Tufts Electric Racing Car

Tufts Electric Racing is a student-run racing team that designs and builds an all-electric, formula-style race car to compete in the FSAE Formula Hybrid+Electric competition. We give students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in engineering and business, while also providing the opportunity for students to improve team-building skills and participate in an international competition.

Founded in 2008, the team started with a hybrid car, quickly finding success in competition. The team continued as a hybrid racing team, finding several top-10 finishes, until we transitioned to an all-electric vehicle during the 2014-2015 season to become more competitive. As the only successful all-electric submission that year, we took first place overall. The team continued working with all electric designs until 2020, when team membership dropped during COVID. The team was unable to compete that year, and with no returning upperclassmen in 2021, new students stepped into leadership roles for the team, working to rebuild the team. They spent the next two seasons learning everything they could about electric vehicles, with hopes of returning to competition. During the 2022-2023 season, the team completed their new car design and was able to start construction throughout the fall semester. The 2023 competition was our first since 2019, and the team finished 12th, despite entering under static events only

This year, the team is continuing to improve the design of this same car in order to compete in competition during April 2024. Unfortunately, while the team continues to expand and our knowledge of electric vehicles continues, a lack of proper budget prevents us from being as competitive as other teams in the FSAE competition, and as our own team was before COVID.

Your support can help our team with project costs and competition fees, so that we can continue refining the car to our best abilities. Any donation is appreciated and can help give us the opportunity to succeed at competition this year!

Some of our costs will include:

• Differential Repair: $300
  • Our current differential is 8 years old and is showing its age. We are sending it to the supplier to get it refurbished and cleaned up so it efficiently transfers power from our motor to the wheels.
• Suspension: Damper Rebuild Kit: $199/kit (Quantity of 4)
  • Current Ohlins dampers are 10 years old and have begun to leak. Damper rebuild kits will allow us to fix this problem and develop an upgraded high-performance suspension system.
• Battert Management System: $2000
  • This year we are upgrading our High Voltage system to power the car! This means having a system to manage our new batteries for a 500V system.
• Battery Charger: $750
  • A new battery charger to be fitted to the car. This will obviously allow us to charge our batteries, but also use public charging ports available on campus.
• Tires: $265/tire (Quantity of 4)
  • This year, we are buying new tires to replace our old and worn-out tires. Slick tires will help us prepare for dry-track conditions.

We thank you in advance for your support!