Newsletter of June 2022

For the last time before our race in Finland we went testing on E-circuit Emmen. After some finishing touches in the morning, later in the afternoon Jorn Hamberg could test out the lastest adjustments on the Delta-XE. He did multiple tests and all of them were successful. We are looking forward to Finland with good hope!

A big milestone this month was the fact that the Delta-XE got it's ERRA passport. This passport shows that our electric superbike is safe according to the ERRA regulations. A big step for the team since we need this passport to participate in races.

Tomorrow the van will leave with the Delta-XE and 3 members of Electric Superbike Twente heading for Finland! The other 15 members will be going there on wednesday by plane.

In Finland we will be racing in the "Three Flashes" competition against JHC Ukkonen. They have also build a fully electric superbike, so this will be a battle of the giants.

We will be updating very frequently about the racing weekend through our social media and the live blog on our website. You find the live blog by going to electricsuperbiketwente.nl under the tab "Media".

This is the racing schedule for coming weekend!

De wereld staat te trappelen om met energie vooruit te gaan. Het moet schoner, sneller. We willen meer. Nu en later. Deze uitdagende tijden vragen om uitdagende banen. Durf jij het aan? Kijk dan op https://werkenbijetc.nl/ en ontdek hoe jij bij ETC het verschil kunt maken. #werkenbijetc #jouwuitdaging

Similar to last month, this month has been filled with visits. One of these was the visit of Rob Jetten, our Minister of Climate and Energy, who came for a tour throughout the Future Factory. The Minister showed a lot of interest in how all of the student teams in the Future Factory can help assist the transition to a more sustainable world.  

Meanwhile, we are helping our colleagues at the powertrain subteam install the last items before we head off to the circuit of Imatra in Finland. The most drastic improvement was the installation of a safer and sturdier High Voltage DC connector. This connecter is responsible for connecting the battery to the Cascadia, our motor controller, and with proper shielding and grounding capabilities. Due to the considerable size of the connector and the stiffness of the cables, our original attachment point was insufficient. This required some ingenuity since there is not an abundance of space within the motorcycle and the solution had to be feasible with the already existing framework of components. The new location can be found at the front of the battery pack, in between the brand-new set of radiators.   

A related project to this was designing an extension cable together with a safe enclosure, a busbar and shielded cables inside the battery pack. This extension cable is required for testing the battery without inserting it into the bike. We use this set up for example when we do a dynamometer test at Ten Kate Racing Products.  

Next to this, several chassis' projects had to be completed. As mentioned in the previous newsletter we had struggles with finding a replacement for the radiator. With the help of Hangar and modifying some parts of the bodywork we managed to incorporate the new cooling system, including two new vertical radiators. The cooling system was tested thoroughly at the E-Circuit of Emmen during an incredibly hot weekend. The results were exceptional and beyond the level we expected.  

Lastly, this month we accomplished a major milestone for us, namely acquiring an official Electric Road Racing Association Passport for our motor the DELTA-XE. It took us longer than initially thought, but we are thrilled to have met all the safety requirements as the first bike of its kind.

Within one week time, we will travel with the entire team to our next race. For this race we will move with our electric superbike and all required equipment to one of the most northern countries of Europe, Finland. In the city of Imatra a road race has been organized for many years now and carries the name ‘Imatranajo’. This year, an additional racing class is added to the International Road Racing Championship (IRRC) which is fully electric and in which we will participate.  

This racing class is called ‘Three Flashes’, which is spread over the weekend and includes 3 flying laps in which we have to achieve the fastest time possible to defeat our opponent, a student team of LUT University. To achieve a fastest laptime at this circuit, we have been working very hard in our office to finalize our Superbike, to satisfy all safety requirements and to be able to drive as hard as we can.  

As you can imagine, the logistics around such an event far away from our office has to be well organized. I and many more of our team have been working for weeks on the preparation for this journey. Sleeping places, food, transportation and much more has been planned and hopefully will make sure that we can fully focus on the race event.  

The BatteryPack has been improved significantly which will allow us to handle with improved safety and make the entire system more reliable. Also, on mechanical level we have been improving of which lifting the bodywork to increase lean angle of the superbike in corners is one of the examples. To finalize all these tasks within time and to be prepared as good as possible for our upcoming race in Finland, we as a team have been working on communication and transparency within the team. This all has added to our preparation towards the race and hopefully has pushed us enough to win.