One of these things that did happen, although they usually don't happen

In the morning of January 15^th this spring, Sebastian took his car out to the Arcus sports centre in Luleå. The Luleå municipality had given us permission to use the indoor running track for our fuel-efficiency measurement of Baldos II the coming Thursday. Sebastian was assigned to check it out; where to let the car in, where to put the tables, access to fire-extinguishers, toilets, electricity etc.

But as he arrived there the indoor track turned out to be a construction yard. The roof was being renovated and there were machines and construction equipment everywhere. The foreman he spoke to said that the building was subject to construction yard regulations, which meant no kind of activities other than safety approved renovating was allowed. Anyone who was to enter had to wear safety shoes and helmets at all times. “Maybe we can just take away the machinery and let you drive around here some if you really need to” he said, “but it must fit in to the worker lunch between 12 and 1 PM”. A poor consolation since we had already invited both our sponsors and press to the minimum two-hour measurement.

On the Finnish roads, daytime

Unfortunately, trouble with external sources has been a common theme in this project. We’ve often found ourselves waiting for promised calls, replies to e-mails, specifications to be sent, parts to be delivered and so on. And once they’ve arrived there’s been things missing, faulty or out of specifications, or they’ve arrived so late that they are no longer needed. Things like this might sound trivial, but in the long run it has meant a lot of extra work from our side. If we would do it all again we could’ve done it in two-thirds of the time just by avoiding a couple of silly things on the way. Let’s take the unexpected journey to Finland by Michael and Martin as an example of that. This is their story:

Wednesday 3^rd of March at 8 AM I (Michael) finally got some good news from Scanmould (a Finnish manufacturing company) – the moulds for the prototype car were finally ready! That was the good news – the bad news was that the whole Finnish transportation industry had just gone on a strike, making it impossible for us to get them.

On the Finnish roads, nighttime

Since we needed the mould as fast as possible, the best alternative resulted in me and Martin going to Finland to get the mould ourselves – a 1200 km drive. Said and done, we left Luleå at 10.30 driving a rented Mercedes Sprinter. To our dismay the mini truck was only equipped with a cassette recorder and a radio. Being the heavy metal fans we are, this problem had to be solved instantly. The savior turned out to be a cassette tape modified with a cord that allowed it to be connected to an mp3-player.

Due to the weather the roads in Finland were similar to a skating rink, which resulted in an average speed of only 70 km/h to ensure survival of us two students.  The view from the road could easily be described as dark, snowy and straight – there really was nothing of interest whatsoever.

On the Finnish roads, dawn

The trip took its time and it was not until 9 PM that we arrived at Scanmould in Ytteresse, Finland. With help from the sturdy Marcus Lill the moulds got loaded smoothly into the truck and we were on our way after 30 minutes. We began to feel like it would be going to be a very long night. The roads were the same, except for less cars and that it was night time. We drove all night long and got more and more tired, and even when we tried to sleep we couldn’t because of a constant fear of slipping on the icy roads. At 4.30 AM we arrived at Jaxal AB and unloaded the windshield mould (Jaxal would sponsor us with the vacuum forming).

After that it was only 150 km left and we were feeling happier by the mile closer to our destination. At 6 AM Thursday the 4^th we arrived safe and sound in Luleå. We delivered the moulds to APC and handed back the sprinter to the car rental. Then we finally got our well-earned sleep.

Arrived at Jaxal AB

With the risk of giving a too pessimistic impression, it has to be pointed out that far from all contacts with external sources have been negative. Quite on the contrary some have been positive surprises. Jaxal sponsored us with all vacuum forming needed – even when we asked for another round. Kollmorgen not only gave us an Electrical Motor Control-Unit (EMCU) but also invited us down to Stockholm to instruct in how to use it. ABB calibrated their Torductor® for our needs and sponsored us with the equipment. This is all deeply appreciated from our side!

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One of the ICE:s mounted on the engine plate

Jonas has spent almost all of his time in the project with the ICE. ICE is an abbreviation for Internal Combustion Engine – the machine that transforms chemical energy in the fluid (in this case ethanol) into mechanical energy. We use the term ICE to distinguish it from the electrical motor – which transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy. Jonas is very handy with ICE:s in general and doing his Master thesis in Energy engineering in the scope of the project. This means that apart from the rest of Team Baldos he doesn’t do any other courses parallel to the project – which can be seen in his time-log.

The ICE:s we use are virtually the same for both vehicles and are in fact modified model-plane engines; Fuji Imvac BF-25EI. They’re quite small (25 cc) and weigh around a kilo a piece, but are still fully functioning four-stroke gasoline engines. KG Knutsson has supplied us with spark plugs suitable for such tiny mechanisms.

Since Jonas knows a lot of ways to modify engines, the issue has always been to decide which improvements to choose from in the long list he’s come up with. These are examples of what he’s accomplished so far:

- A new cooling system based on automatic circulation of water. Model-plane engines are normally cooled by the airflow from the propeller, but since Baldos II doesn’t have one of those, insufficient cooling is what caused the breakdown during last year’s Shell EM.

Jonas inspecting the ICE cooling system

- Conversion from carburetor to fuel injection. With fuel injection it’s possible to calibrate the fuel/air mix with the lambda (oxygen) sensor to get most out of the fuel injected.

-Higher compression ratio by extending the connecting rod. This is required for using ethanol, but it also increases efficiency.

- Piston modifications for improved gas flow behavior, which means less fuel waste.

- Intake manifold – an intuitive way of optimizing the airflow into the engine by creating a standing wave of air by the intake.

- Altering of the valve-opening cycle for more exact opening times.

- There’s also been a discussion about a heavily efficient new way of handling engine cooling, but because of lack of time, its relative complexity, and because the engines might cool down too quickly, we might save this one for next year.

In the process of doing these modifications Jonas has had great help from Metallic polymers supplied from Belzona.

Fredrik and Jonas during a dynamometer test run

Unfortunately Jonas has also been quite occupied with the dynamometer. The first plan was to have it finished already before Christmas, but mechanical issues made it reach over new years. Then, while testing with a motor sponsored from Honda motors, there were some electrical systems failures. After that we encountered vibration problems; probably because of dysfunctional connectors between the dynamometer and the engine.

Poor Jonas spent a lot of hours trying to fix it, assisted by Janne. Luckily, it all came together after exchanging the previous connectors with a Polhem knot (a Universal joint), and right now we are using the dynamometer to test the ignition module, ECU and compression ratio, and of course to optimize the engine by searching for the most efficient engine rpm.

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After a lot of hard work, it is time for us to present our new car to the world! Apart from the unveiling and naming ceremony for Baldos ‘X’, we will also show the present status of Baldos II and let everybody who wishes to have a closer look at it.

Date: Thursday 2010-04-22

Time: 10:00

Place: B192 Auditorium at the Luleå University of Technology

The ceremony will proceed as follows

10:00 Presentation in B192

10:30 Unveiling outside the B-building.
Chance to ask questions and inspect the vehicles.

13:00 Baldos II test-drive in Luleå city center

The event will be visited by our supporters and media, but the general public may also attend as far as space allows.

Welcome!

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Daniel, Michael and Martin attaching carbon fiber

During the last weeks Christophe, Daniel, Martin and Michael have been working in a company called APC Composites (or simply APC) in Luleå, which is a long-term supporter for various student projects. The quartet has been busy doing the monocoque for the prototype – a hard shell that substitutes the need for a normal chassis/coach in the car. This is common in Formula 1 cars, for instance.

The work consists of putting layers of carbon fiber and a sandwich material (sponsored by DIAB) on top of a mould that we’ve designed. Once finished with a layer, the material has to harden in an oven before the next layer can be put on. This process repeats a couple of times until all layers are present.

Polishing the mold before lacquering

This job has received a bad reputation from previous year’s projects. First, it’s an unhealthy environment with fibers and dust particles all over. Second, the task is kind of boring. Third, it’s easy to do simple mistakes, and these mistakes tend to be catastrophic and lead to a lot of extra work. And last, previous year’s students have made a lot of simple mistakes, which meant that they practically lived at APC for a few weeks. This was something we knew already from the start.

So, how did it go this time? Let’s illustrate it with a story from the 18^th of March. This is my (i.e. Kristian’s) depiction of what happened.

During the project group meeting at the 18^th, I raised my hand to volunteer as an oven guard at APC. This means nothing more than just sitting close to the oven and make sure nothing unexpected happens. The APC quartet was to finish their work of the day at 18:00. Then Anders would come and guard the oven, and at 22:00 I would relieve him. I would then stay put until 03:00 and the arrival of the third guard, Kristofer. Since I was a bit tired from working I decided to go home and get some sleep.

Christophe, Michael and Daniel during production at APC

When I arrived at 22:00, Christophe, Daniel and Michael – who were supposed to leave 18:00 – were still there. They were way behind schedule, and when Anders left after an hour or so, the work continued. They applied the last layer of carbon fiber, then put a protective screen on top of it, then a wool-like surface to distribute the load, and – finally – they began to mount a big plastic vacuum bag to keep the form intact while in the oven. Working with the bag is kind of easy if the mould is somewhat flat, but as the shape had grown more complex with time, it proved out to be quite difficult. At around 00:00 we decided to take a break.

At 00:30 we continued working on the vacuum bag, and around 01:00 we thought the bag to be ready. We spent some time transporting the mould to the oven, and then we had to wait for it to warm up. As we turned on the vacuum we heard a noise indicating that our plastic bag was leaking somewhere. This meant turning the oven off, fix the leaks and heat ut up again.

Sealing the vacuum-bag with a sticky substance called "dogmeat"

At 02:15 we made another try. There were some minor leaks then as well, but they were easily taken care of. But as we did this, we turned the oven off again, and as the mould cooled down some layers settled faster than others and they detached from one another. This meant that we once again had to turn the oven off, take away the vacuum, fix the layers to one another with clamps, reheat the oven again, and once again apply the vacuum. When Kristofer came to relieve me, we were still in the process of clamping the layers, and as I left around 03:30, Christophe, Daniel and Michael (who were supposed to leave at 18:00) were still working, and had been since 08:15 that morning.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time things didn’t go as planned. Even though they had a “better safe than sorry” approach and made very few mistakes, the quartet spent days, evenings, nights and weekends for three weeks at APC until they were finished last Friday. And, fortunately, it looks great! We’re currently attaching other parts to it and making the last few modifications of the exterior, and so far it really looks promising.

We wish to thank Dr. Sauli Vasara who sponsored us with the physical examinations that are required to work at APC. Maybe because of him, the quartet is still fit for fight physically – although the work may have created some mental scars.

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Joakim presenting the ICE

To regard PR and marketing as an investment, not a luxury might very well be the oldest trick in the book when it comes to marketing, but still it’s worth mentioning again. The thing is that whenever we’ve found ourselves deeply focused on soldering circuit cards, fighting permanent magnets from attaching to one another, trying to get a dynamometer running, removing sticky pieces of carbon fiber from your clothes, or spending 60 – 84 (!) hours a week at work, doing marketing activities hasn’t been the first thing to come to our minds. But once we’ve invested some time in it, it’s quite easy to see the benefits, and appreciation certainly makes us more motivated for everything else.

Our PR and marketing activities began with the LARV fair in January, where we presented the vehicles and also held a short presentation about the project for the participating companies. Shortly after that we had our measurement of Baldos II, where we proved it to be the most energy-efficient vehicle allowed for street-use in Sweden today, and informed many others about that achievement as well. As a result from the sudden recognition we were invited to participate in the CleanEquity conference in Monacy together with some notables in the field of environmental technology. And today we were, once again quite unexpectedly, visited by Andreas Carlgren – the Minister for the Environment in the Swedish government.

Inspecting the space that (usually) contains the drivetrain

It was nothing but a short, informative but informal meeting. Since Baldos II is being reconstructed it just stood there, but the physical experience of it and the knowledge of its capabilities is often enough for anyone who hasn’t seen it before. We explained to Andreas what it was, how it works (piece by piece), what it does and what it could mean to future motorism. And, following the typical Texas phrase “it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true”, we told him a lot of true things.

Andreas seemed genuinely excited and interested. He looked at and touched everything to get a feeling of it. He tried sitting in the vehicle, even with the hood down. Overall he seemed kind of pleased – which, by the way, works kind of natural for a Minister for the environment experiencing a car that is everything but sinister for the environment. Erika and Joakim gave him some of their perspectives of the vehicle, Stefan took some photos of everything (thank you Stefan!), Tore Silver cursed the CNC machine in the background, and – well – that’s about it.

There needn’t be anything more. We are once again glad just to see a recognized institution – like Piteå Tidningen, DN, De Telegraaf, the prince of Monaco, and the minister for the environment – share some of the excitement that we feel about Baldos II. So, thank you everybody for your support, and we hope to see more of you later on. And by the way – there’ll be plenty chances for that!

Andreas trying out the Baldos II

On the afternoon of April 22^nd we’ll have our unveiling ceremony at the University. Apart from presenting an optimized and reworked Baldos II we will finally introduce the brand new prototype Baldos ‘X’ to the world (and reveal its true name). Soon afterwards we’ll head for the race in Lausitz, Germany over the 6-7^th of May. We’ll be the first ever team to participate with a car allowed for street use so we might very well be noticed by a few more people. And after that there’s a whole lineup of occasions in which we will be seen; something which will be presented more in detail in the coming few blog posts.

In the mean time we wish to thank Christina Simonsson from the Swedish centre party for helping us with all this, and a big thanks to BAE Systems Hägglunds in Örnsköldsvik for becoming our first main sponsor. Europe suddenly feels a lot closer.

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1. Design

The production phase – or the Detail design and manufacturing/ordering/modification of parts as it is called in the project plan – is going towards an end. It may have passed somewhat unnoticed for those of you reading this blog, but that’s just because we’ve been quite occupied with it ourselves.

Anyway, as we’re approaching the end of it, we thought it might be suitable to share some of the knowledge that we’ve acquired during the production phase. Maybe some of you have started thinking about building your own energy-efficient vehicle and wish to get some hints, or you’re a competitor who wishes to know what we’re up to, or you’re a Swedish car-manufacturer who’s just been saved from bankruptcy and need some help getting back on track, or maybe you’re just curious about what’s going on in the project. All of you will find something of interest in our miniseries Lessons learned during production. Tip number one reads The secret of soldering is flux and comes from Kristofer and Erika’s assignment; the Computer nodes.

2. Solder (remember Flux)

As mentioned earlier we are to compete with two vehicles in this year’s Shell-eco marathon. First, we are building a brand new prototype-class vehicle (the Baldos ‘X’). Second, we are making the already available Baldos II even better. One of the Baldos II subsystems that we’re improving is the computer nodes. Since most of us, including myself (i.e. Kristian), don’t know much about electronics, the concept of computer nodes might need some explanation.

In old classic electrical engineering, every system that was to be controlled had to have a separate cable all the way from where the signals come from to the receiving system. This eventually led to A LOT of cables. With computer nodes all signals are instead processed into a network of nodes. All nodes are operating at the same level and communicating with one another using CAN-bus (read more about that on Wikipedia), which can both receive, pass on and/or send out signals. The systems to be controlled are all linked to at least one of these nodes, and each node keeps track of which signals to pass on to its subsystems.

This simplifies things. If, for example, the pilot in an airplane wishes to switch on the “Fasten seatbelts” sign in the rear part of the pressurized cabin, it can be done through the same network of nodes as, for example, the “Occupied” signal coming from the lavatory.

3. Done!

However easy this might seem for a small vehicle like the Baldos II it has required a lot of work. Since early February both Kristofer and Erika has spent literally days and nights with the system. After a lot of time designing they begun the manufacturing of the circuit cards, which basically is soldering various electrical components (thank you ELFA for those), together with microprocessors (donated by ATMEL), on top of tailor-made circuit-cards (supplied by COGRA). The results look kind of promising, perhaps because of Erika’s obsessions for a special soldering solution called Flux, and we now have all cards ready for installation in the car. At the moment both Kristofer and Erika are helping Joel to reorganize the cables in Baldos II in order to try out and troubleshoot their nodes.

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So, what’s happening in the project right now? How far have we reached in the production phase? And is it true that we’re going to visit several European cities after the Shell Eco Marathon? These and several other questions will be answered shortly in future Blog posts. For the time being we serve you the last part of Ulrikas, Mattias’ and Fredriks account from their representative journey to Monaco.

Team Baldos with furst Albert II (Photo: Melissa Abecassis)

Saturday 6^th of March
After our meeting with His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco our mission was accomplished and we began the strenuous journey back to base. One last delicious French breakfast was consumed before the bags were packed and stuffed into the car. The seemingly easy task of finding our way to the freeway proved out to be rather complicated, and it took us almost an hour until we could gain some momentum northwards. Instead of going back the route we came from we took a detour towards northwest. We travelled through the Mont Blanc Tunnel and ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. We had heard rumors about the Geneva Motor Show and decided to take a few hours off to visit the exhibition. Later that evening – with our heads spinning around Ferraris, Bentleys and Porsches we headed east to a hostel in the Swiss capital Bern, where we spent the night.

Another Swedish vehicle - Koenigsegg agera on the Geneva Motor Show

Sunday 7^th of March
This day was to be the moment of truth for our minibus (as well as our backs) – 1100 km between Bern (Switzerland) and Rostock (Northern Germany) was ahead of us. We started off with a good breakfast and were soon back on the roads again. Luckily enough Germany is perhaps the ideal country to just pass by, and with a speed of around 140-160 km/h the Baden-Württembergian countryside swept past outside the car windows. We took a few pauses in order to fill up the minibus and to eat, but apart from that our day was spent entirely on the highway. When we finally arrived in Rostock we switched back to our Swedish studded tires, made a quick visit to the tax-free shops on the Ferry and once again allowed the Baltic Sea to cradle us to sleep.

Monday 8^th of March
As we rolled off the ferry we were all rather pleased to have made it back to the “country of the brown sauce”, and Scania greeted us with genuine spring weather. The checklist of Swedish cities to pass was quickly filled in. Our lunch, consisting of Pancakes, was consumed by an acquaintance to Mattias in Nyköping. Fredrik left the crew in his hometown of Sala, while Mattias and Ulrika (who were to continue all the way to Luleå) spent the night by Mattias’ brother in Uppsala.

Baldos II back in the workshop

Tuesday 9^th of March
We started off early, already at 06:00, to enter the final episode of our excursion. Our first stop was for morning Fika (something similar to “second breakfast”) in Gävle by Finsun Inresol AB, a newly founded company in the Energy-technology business. They told us some enlightening facts about their hybrid diesel car “Solon”. The second stop of the day was by Mattias’ parents south of Umeå. A journalist from Västerrbottens Folkblad awaited us there, and he took a few photos of us and the car (found here). After a delightful dinner we sat out towards Luleå in the glittering northern night. And finally, at around 22:00, our European adventure was over. Well, this one at least.

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Here’s the continued story from Fredrik, Mattias and Ulrika – our representatives in Monaco. This time they get to see the Riviera as it is depicted in the movies!

Baldos II in Monaco

Wednesday 3rd of March
For the first time since the journey started we allowed ourselves a late morning, and we enjoyed the French hotel breakfast without stress. Our next appointment was to place Baldos II on a specific parking lot outside Le Casino de Monte Carlo at 2 PM, which gave us plenty of time on our own. In the morning we went sightseeing in Nice. We had a brief look at the old town and a promenade by the sea front, and Fredrik and Ulrika went to update their wardrobes for the conference. By 2 PM we once again entered the minbus and headed east. After some orienteering on the notorious streets of Monaco we finally reached the Casino and unloaded our precious little car for public display. The minibus keys were handed over to the reception clerk of Hôtel de Paris who managed to park the vehicle, although it appeared rather misplaced in the context. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent in a café as pouring rain and rough winds would have made a tour in the city rather inconvenient.

Baldos II outside Hôtel de Paris

Later that night Team Baldos entered Le Casino de Monte Carlo. We must have looked brilliant in our dark lounge suits and long dress since waiters immediately approached us with glasses full of Champagne. With a glass in one hand and both eyes trying to grasp the magnificent interior of the Casino, three students from the dark and cold northern parts of Sweden began to mingle around in a growing crowd of important-looking people. We were socializing, drinking champagne, studying the interiors, exchanging business cards, drinking some more, talking to some other people, and so forth until around eight a clock when the whole come together was rounded off. A tired but quite satisfied Team Baldos escaped the Casino into the Monaco subterranean train station, and after a 20 minute train ride and 10 minute walk we were back in our beds, dreaming about James Bond.

The conference room

Thursday 4th of March
In order for us to be in place for the initiation of the conference at 8.30 AM we got out of bed at 6.30. The whole thing began with a coffee break. After an opening speech by one of the initiators, the conference was en route. Presentations and plenary sessions succeeded one another and were intervened by numerous coffee breaks. The day went on and we began to find our feet, so to speak. One of the highlights of the day was a presentation from a Japanese company. The man set to present was struggling with his English and he read the whole speech from a manuscript while his Powerpoint presentation contained almost all special effects in the book. The lunch gave us a taste of what was to come. The food was really good, and the desert – well – it was really, really good.

Ulrika answering questions from the press

During the afternoon Baldos II received a whole lot of attention as the press covering the conference eagerly took photos and recorded videos of it. Ulrika ”drove” the car down a small slope and parked it in our parking lot between the Casino and Hôtel de Paris. Baldos II received quite a lot of attention in the traffic as well and everybody stopped to let the car through. A man in a red Audi R8 even shouted “It looks almost like my car!”. The conference ended by 5 PM, but the banquet wasn’t up until 8 PM, so we used the spare time to do some sightseeing in Monaco. The fabulous yachts in the Port of Hercules and the prince’s palace were two of the highlights in our three-hour stride around the town. And after a quick change of clothes and a few strokes with the comb we were fit for the banquet.

The banquet was held in Hôtel de Paris, and ‘surreal’ is perhaps the word that best describes our impressions as the dining room was presented; a world of cut-glass chandeliers and gold! Some mingle and glasses of champagne later we sat down at our assigned places. It’s actually very hard for us to give a representative image of the rest of the evening, both when it comes to the food and how everything looked. As an example, the waiters brushed crumbs away from the tables between dishes, and as soon as a glass or plate was emptied they were appeared from nowhere. A band sang a song at each table, and when they heard we were Swedes they played SOS by ABBA!

Baldos II alongside other vehicles of the future

Friday 5th of March
According to the agenda, the day was to begin with ”strong coffee”, and so it did. The conference continued with plenary session and presentations like the day before. We tried to attain as much as possible and talk to as many as we could, and to our satisfaction Baldos II had achieved great interest from a wide variety of participants!

During the day we were told not to participate in the closing ceremony, where Prince Albert was to appear. Instead we were assigned to stand by the car and greet him as he came out. When we stood there waiting by the car a lot of people approached us, photographing, asking questions and discussing the car in general. Unfortunately some of them didn’t understand English and therefore we had some troubles answering them.

Finally the prince and most of the parliament came out. We were a bit nervous but everything went quite well. We shook hands with him and talked about Baldos II. He already seemed to know a bit about it. He wished us good luck, said “Jättebra!” (Swedish for “Very good!”), stepped into his Lexus (marked “MC01”) and drove away. Or, more precisely, his driver did.

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We have received a report from our three delegates – Fredrik, Mattias and Ulrika – going to the CleanEquity conference in Monaco. This is their story of the 3700+ kilometers on the way down.

A: Luleå, B: Umeå, C: Sundsvall, D: Gävle, E: Sala, F: Alingsås, G: Trelleborg

Friday 26^th of February
The journey south began after lunch when Baldos Ii was thoroughly lashed inside the minibus. The destination of the day was sort of a warm-up for distances to come – a relatively modest trip to Mattias’ parents south of Umeå. Once there, dinner was served with blueberry pie for dessert. The rest of the night was devoted to Death Metal as we were invited to the rehearsal hall of the band Daemonicus, to enjoy riffs of the heavier kind.

Saturday 27^th of February
We had an early breakfast before takeoff towards our next destination; Sala. Sundsvall became the location of a smaller miracle as Ulrika finally found the button to turn off the front seat heating system. After a short coffee break in Gävle, Mattias made another fantastic discovery – the button to turn off the warm air flow on the driver’s feet – and the car was now optimized for a trip further south. As we arrived in Sala there was a delicate pie waiting for us in the refrigerator, and the rest of the night was spent on the thirty-year anniversary of one of Fredrik’s acquaintances.

Sunday 28^th of February
Last day in Sweden started off with snowfall, and travelling further south it transformer into rain and tough winds. The appetizing lunch of the day was served by Ulrika’s parents in Alingsås. We also took the time to switch tires – studded tires, although essential in northern Sweden, are prohibited in Germany. Around 9 pm we arrived in Trelleborg harbor in the very south of Sweden, unfortunately appearing at its worst. The rain was pouring down and on the radio they were issuing warnings against a storm coming in. Well on board we were cradled to sleep by waves rapidly increasing in size.  We weren’t awoken until sometime around 5 am, when a woman screamed something in an unidentifiable language on the ship speaker system – we were arriving in Rostock, Germany.

A lighthouse in Lindau

Monday 1^st of March
Our hopes for a somewhat more pleasant weather was diminished when we struck a North German snowstorm of severe magnitude. Fortunately, the rest of the day was spent with high speeds on the Autobahn, and already early evening we arrived in Lindau – a beautiful town on the side of Lake Constance close to the Austrian border. After a stride in the old town we enjoyed a dinner in one of the many fine restaurants.

Tuesday 2^nd of March
After a substantial Bavarian breakfast we crossed the border to Austria. Twenty minutes afterwards we arrived at the Swiss border, where the minibus immediately caught the attention of the custom officials. In a combination of German and somewhat defective English one of the officials managed to explain he wanted to see the papers of the bus and our passports. He disappeared with us patiently waiting in the bus, but reappeared after a while asking us to open the luggage compartment. His face looked quite surprised as he found a little red car inside. We were then ordered to move the minibus towards another building, with more guards, and show them all kinds of registrations of the Baldos II, before we were finally allowed to cross the Swiss border.

Baldos II in the alps

We were now travelling in the magnificent Alps. As we moved further into the mountainous regions the weather got better and we could even switch to T-shirt – something unthinkable in Luleå at this time of the year. We found a beautiful mountain village where we rolled out the Baldos II and took some photographs with some snow-cowered mountains in the background. We also tried out its roadholding ability in the steep descents (all documented on video) before heading towards the Italian border. This time the crossing went a lot smoother since one of the border guards recognized Baldos II (by name!) and waved us through.

On our way south through Italy, Mattias by coincidence noticed that we were close to the Monza motorsport race track northeast of Milan. After a short discussion we decided to go there, and luckily we pretty soon ended up on the right spot. We witnessed some kind of event going on with Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis racing forth, and we just couldn’t resist rolling out Baldos II in the depot to take some photos together with the horse powered cousins of hers.

Baldos II at the Monza motorsport race track

After four hours of searching, and a few examples of substandard language from Ulrika’s side, we finally made our way out of Milan and could speed up on the Autostrada. After a few kilometers on the beautiful highway along Côte d’Azur we reached Nice. Mattias made a remarkable job zigzagging on the winding streets while following mine and Ulrika’s directions. After a few doubtful turns and crossings Hotel Boreal appeared before our eyes. Minutes later the three of us were checked in and lying in our beds, sleeping like babies.

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The longer we have reached into it, the more extensive the project of building two cars has turned out to be. Right now there are a lot of things going on simultaneously, and we thought we might show you a few of the things happening.

Joakim and Nina trying out the brakelights on Baldos II

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Preparations
As you might have read in our last post, the Baldos II is heading down to Monaco to participate in a conference regarding environmentally friendly technology. And since His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco himself is participating, we had to shape it up a bit. Baldos II is right now under reconstruction (we’re up to beat the 152.2 km/liter that we’ve already accomplished) so we had to do some modifications for it to look more as a car than parts of a car. We had some issues with the ignition module and the free wheel, but most of it was fixed during the week.

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Design
The design and manufacture of the prototype, Baldos ‘X’, is also moving forward. Since air resistance is one of the primary concerns when building a prototype, we designed the chassis as small as possible. This means, on the other hand, that there’s not too much room for other systems; like the wheel suspension, driver’s controls, driver’s seat and the driver herself.

Hmm... - will there be enough room for the helmet?

We printed a model of the vehicle on a piece of cardboard, and both Janne and Christophe ended up lying on the floor, on top of the cardboard, trying to see where to squeeze everything in. Our primary choice of driver, Stina, has a slender figure and she probably won’t have any trouble fitting in. Janne, our reserve driver, is a tougher case – as a final resort we might modify him to fit in the car instead of the reverse.

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The new CNC-milled stator for the electrical motor

CNC
Janne is also involved in producing parts in the CNC-machine. For those of you not familiar with the system, CNC stands for Computer Numerical Controlled and refers to a computerized production system used by many factories over the world. The system has some clear benefits – you can use several kinds of tools in a single machine and get a lot higher tolerance levels on your parts than if you did it by hand – but it takes a lot of time to learn, and a simple mistake in the programming might imply doing it all over again. Fortunately the results have been promising so far; the stator (designed and manufactured by Joakim) for example will make a valuable contribution to the electrical motor.

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Lastly, we had an addition to the Team; Fredrik has joined us! He has already been working on the new ignition module for the engines and will continue to supply us with his programming expertise in the future as well. Welcome to Team Baldos, Fredrik!

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