The East Coast Timing Association not only has a new venue this year, they also have a new class for electric motorcycles. The ECTA crew has been working with Dr. Robert Prins of James Madison University to create the rules, which is neat because Prins is a hands on gearhead with lots of experience developing electric vehicles and technology. He is also the col-leader of James Madison’s SAE team that works with students on neat projects and competitions.

Anyway, here are the rules. It will be super interested to see if any of these electric creations show up on the Ohio Mile and how hard and fast they run. They’ll probably sound like electric shavers from Hell, but odds on they will move out good. Instant torque!

ECTA Electric Motorcycle Voltage Divisions

Division

Measured Voltage

A3

382.9 and above

A2

330.1 – 382.2

A

264.1 – 330.0

B

211.3 – 264.0

C

184.9 – 211.2

D

158.5 – 184.8

E

132.1 – 158.4

F

105.7 – 132.0

G

79.3 – 105.6

H

0 – 79.2

Maximum voltage cap is 500 Volts.

Required additional logbook data for electrics for each event including:

i. number of cells

ii. nominal voltage of cells

iii. nominal voltage of pack

iv. fully charged voltage of pack

In the event of parallel cells, cell combinations must be “hard wired”, series/parallel switches are not allowed

Voltage verification points must be demonstrated and accessible for inspection. Controller input lugs or battery charging connections are some examples of acceptable locations.

Traction Battery Pack

Traction battery pack must be rechargeable

Driver must be shielded from traction battery by a barrier, holes in the barrier to accommodate cables and other wiring are acceptable so long as they are reasonably identifiable as such and not just large voids that cables happen to run through if batteries are placed in a box the box is considered a barrier, boxes must be vented

Batteries must be installed using appropriately sized metal hold downs, framework, and fasteners; battery installation should be such that batteries will withstand rollover without flying loose batteries with free liquid (such as flooded lead-acid batteries) are not allowed

Over Current Protection

All battery packs must have over current protection; circuit breaker(s) or fuse(s) permitted. Over current protection devices must have a DC voltage rating equal or greater than the nominal pack voltage current rating of protection device must be lower than the short circuit current that the pack can produce without damage each battery sub-pack that is in a distinctly different location must have its own over current protection

Master Cutoff

The switches described in 7.B.2.1 and 7.B.2.2 must disconnect traction battery pack