Is There E85 Gas In The Car?

When last we saw the CSULA entry in the EcoCar2 competition, it was in Washington, DC.

Well, it is back in LA and it will be attending some events in the near future. My son, as team lead for the new EcoCar3 competition, needs to get the car up to speed, so that it can be street driven. That means disconnecting the electrical (if you remember, they didn't get the electrical drive train to communicate with the original drive train, that runs on gas). You can read about the end of the competition HERE.

So each time they take it out, the electrical drive train needs to be disconnected and brought back to a single drive train mode. (Update: when my son got home, he stated that they don't have to disconnect the electrical system anymore. I am not sure what that means, but maybe they can drive it on the gas and just not switch into electrical.) They spent Friday working on the car and when I inquired when my son would be coming home, he sent me this photo.

The car runs on E85 fuel, which is ethanol made from corn. You can see the E85 pump in the photo.

So now there is plenty of E85 gas in the car, though they had to drive over 15 miles each way (to Arcadia), to get the gas.

Pretty cool.