With the COVID-19 pandemic, work for CalSMV has been radically changed.
As school closed and students scattered across vastly different parts of the world and varying time zones, in order to accommodate all members and obey health and safety regulations, meetings were forced to be moved online. This left us unable to put the final touches on Lux for competition, and in fact prevented us from participating in the 2020 and 2021 seasons of Shell Eco-Marathon all together. Though hugely disappointing for all, the team has soldiered on in an effort to continue to provide members with great experiences and a collaborative community.
As Lux sits patiently in our RFS workshop awaiting our return, we have begun the design of a new vehicle: Joule. Like Lux, Joule is an urban-concept battery-electric vehicle, but with some major differences introduced for improved efficiency and manufacturability, based on our previous learnings. The mechanical team is working diligently on careful design and analysis to ensure that we’re ready to hit the ground running with manufacturing as soon as we’re able to. Meanwhile, our systems team continues our pursuit of developing a brushless motor controller, writing code, designing circuits, and prototyping at home. As a team, we are dedicated to continuing to work as best we can, and are excited to compete when it is safe to do so!
– Wenny Miao, Team Lead