Year 6 students from Sunshine Beach State School were recently involved in the ZEN DURO 2023 project about the use of swappable batteries for electric vehicles and how they could work in our community.
The research project was led by Year 6 teacher Hamish Black, assisted by ZEN member Gwenn Davidson. ZEN DURO was a practical application of energy use and energy efficiency for transport using radio controlled cars, as well as introducing students to the concept of swappable batteries as a power source for EVs.
The project started with the swappable battery concept that Gogoro operates in Taiwan, and that thinking was applied to using swap-and-go batteries in Noosa and the wider Queensland community. Students mapped out travel routes to find out where it would be necessary to locate swap-and-go EV batteries to support this transportation idea.
When driving the remote controlled cars, the students hooked up to batteries. They could stop at cones along their trial route which were marked and labelled to correspond with their content about the towns they were visiting. This showed the value that swap-and-go batteries would bring to communities as well as their efficiency.
Radio controlled Ferraris [1:14 scale] and a Kombi ute were used to add to the fun. Learning how to test voltage and approximately how far they could go was part of the knowledge necessary to make the project work. From this project, the students proved that you could drive to many places in Queensland in an EV with a swappable battery, if there were enough communities that used this swappable model. The advantage of this system is that it is fast, as there is no waiting time to recharge the EV battery. The driver just swaps the battery and off he or she goes.
According to teacher Hamish Black, the project was an ideal way to cover many different parts of the curriculum – from renewable energy and electrical circuitry to design technology for the ZEN DURO logo, to maths, where the students worked out the distances to be covered and English and marketing, with students making posters to advertise the trips to the communities involved.
This project was a real life simulation for the students. By applying what they learned in the project, they could see how using swap and go batteries could be a real life solution to reducing transport emissions. A highlight was welcoming the UQ EV Racing Team and Team Arrow Solar Car Challenge Teams, with their respective cars, to the school. Both teams did presentations to share knowledge and highlight the exciting journey ahead for the students in today’s changing transportation environment. They also highlighted what may be possible if they study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) subjects at secondary school.
ZEN members Vivien Griffin and Lyn and Geoff Black also brought their EV cars to the school to show and talk to students about how they are different from petrol and diesel driven cars and how they help to reduce emissions.
The ZEN DURO programme concluded with a demonstration of their work at the recent EV Expo in Noosa Junction last month. Thanks to Noosa Council for the originally funding this project in 2022. All involved agreed this project was inspiring and the students were incredibly enthusiastic! It was a great team effort – students, teacher, racing teams and ZEN.
To find out more about Zero Emissions Noosa Inc. and our projects see www.zeroemissionsnoosa.com.au/what-zen-is
