Year 6 students from Sunshine Beach State School were recently involved in the Zen Duro research project about the use of swappable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and how they could work in our community.
The research project was led by John Fuller, a member of Zero Emissions Noosa Inc., in conjunction with Hamish Black, a Year 6 teacher at SBSS.
The Zen Duro project 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. It was a part of Zero Emissions Noosa Inc’s Race to Zero program, funded by Noosa Council.
John Fuller explained, “We started with the swappable battery concept that Gogoro operates in Taiwan and applied that thinking to using swap and go batteries in the Noosa and wider Queensland community. We planned four routes – North to Cairns (1600km); Outback to Charleville (800km); Regional Roundtrip (2000km); and the Sydney Surf trip. The students researched the towns and their history and mapped out 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 control vehicles, 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 these towns. They showed the value that swap and go batteries would bring to communities, as well as the efficiency of swap and go batteries.“Our research used radio-controlled Ferraris (1:14 scale) and a Kombi ute to add to the fun. Learning how to test voltage and approximately how far we could go was part of the knowledge necessary to make the project work,” said John.
“From this project, we 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,” John added. According to SBSS 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.”
Hamish added: “This 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”.
The project culminated in a presentation event using the Radio Controlled cars at the recent ZEN Inc. Noosa EV Expo June 2022. Vivien Griffin, ZEN Inc. EV Expo Coordinator, introduced the students to Janus Trucks as they use swap and go batteries, and the students were able to ask questions about this technology.
All involved agreed this project was inspiring and the students were incredibly enthusiastic. It was a great team effort – students, teacher, mentor and ZEN Inc.!
