astronomy

UltraCommuter

UltraCommuter is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand UltraCommuter rather than just read about it. In short: The UltraCommuter was a hybrid electric concept car first designed by the University of Queensland Sustainable Energy Group and unveiled in 2005. In 2007, the project was transferred to the Waikato University School of Engineering and further developed in conjunction with HybridAuto Pty.

Key takeaways

UltraCommuter belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect UltraCommuter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of UltraCommuter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The UltraCommuter was a hybrid electric concept car first designed by the University of Queensland Sustainable Energy Group and unveiled in 2005. In 2007, the project was transferred to the Waikato University School of Engineering and further developed in conjunction with HybridAuto Pty.

Design and development The UltaCommuter project commenced in 2000 out of the University of Queensland's award-winning solar car project, the SunShark. Dr Geoff Walker said the aim was to make a car that people could register and drive from the knowledge gained making the SunShark. The car body toured Queensland in 2005 and 2006 as part of RACQ's roadshow on the history of Queensland motoring called Bulldust to Bitumen and Beyond. In 2007, Matthew Greaves, Ben Guymer, and Bernie Walsh who started the UltraCommuter project formed HybridAuto and passed development on to Waikato University School of Engineering team lead, Mike Duke. The UltraCommuter was described as a long range two seater electric vehicle. It ran on either a single 150 kg lithium battery pack which gave it a range of about 200 km. With two battery packs installed the range is doubled to 400 km. The car could attain speeds of between 120 kmh and 170 kmh. The cars aluminium honeycomb chassis was about one third the weight of a similar sized production car, and two engines are situated in the rear wheels. HybridAuto (now Ultramotive Technologies) and Page MacRae, a Mount Maunganui engineering firm, funded the initial development cost of about NZ$150,000, with the intention of making it road legal as a research tool for investigating introducing battery electric cars into New Zealand. Ultramotive provided the electric motors. In 2007 Dr Duke of Waikato University stated that it would take at least 18 months and cost at least $10 million to market and produce between 100 and 2000 electric cars a year.

BEV Development work continued at Waikato University with another solar-powered car, the single seat battery electric vehicle (BEV), being certified as roadworthy in 2011. This second car was driven from Auckland to Bluff between 24 November and 6 December 2011. They were joined on the journey by Bochum University's SolarWorld GT, which was on a round the world journey.

Refurbished UltraCommuter In 2012, Waikato University engineering lecturer, Dr Mike Duke, announced that the University was planning to refurbish the UltraCommuter for entry into the Evolution Class of the 2013 World Solar Challenge. The car was completed and entered in the 2013 challenge. A magnet adhesion failure and stator alignment issues with the wheel motors forced the car's withdrawal. In 2014, a fresh project to redesign, build, and test replacement motors under Mike Duke's supervision was offered to final year mechanical engineering students. The project was limited to four students.

Production Discussions were held in 2008 between the Waikato University electric vehicle project and British car makers with the view to establishing a Britain, Australia and New Zealand consortium that may manufacture electric vehicles in New Zealand but these did not proceed.

World Solar Challenge

2007 The UltraCommuter was raced in the Greenfleet Technology Class of the Darwin to Adelaide 2007 World Solar Challenge by a Hybrid Auto and Waikato University Team. The Greenfleet Class of cars in the Challenge aimed to promote more consumer oriented low emission vehicles.

2013 Waikato University entered a refurbished version of the UltraCommuter in the 2013 Challenge. A day or so prior to the commencement of the race, during testing, a magnet broke out of the cars right-hand motor forcing the team to run the car on one motor. Part way through the first raceday the left hand motor broke with six magnets breaking out making the car unrepairable within the allowed timeframe and prompting its withdrawal. Prior to this the car had performed better than expected and had a longer range than expected.

See also Charging station Electric car Environmentalism Hybrid electric car Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand - IPENZ

Photographs 2007 Solar Challenge entry Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine 2011 Battery electric vehicle (BEV) 2013 Solar Challenge entry

Publication Thesis: Design of Lightweight Electric Vehicles, Travis de Fluiter, University of Waikato, Hamilton New Zealand, March 2008

References

External links Teams Facebook page for the 2013 event

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with UltraCommuter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what UltraCommuter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to UltraCommuter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about UltraCommuter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of UltraCommuter

In research: UltraCommuter appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses UltraCommuter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: UltraCommuter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cars of New Zealand, Hybrid electric cars, Solar car racing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for UltraCommuter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study UltraCommuter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what UltraCommuter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain UltraCommuter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is UltraCommuter in simple terms?

Why does UltraCommuter matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study UltraCommuter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on UltraCommuter.