FS Vitoria: Innovating for the Future of Electric Racing

About the Team

For this season 2023/24, FS Vitoria will continue with the help of Eurocircuits. New members joined the team, meaning an increase on the control electronics department.  That fact, combined with the help of the manufacturers of PCBs from part of Eurocircuits, the development of the car will be easier. Now that electronics are involving more in the automotive industry, the collaboration with Eurocircuits, ensures the application of brand-new technology in our vehicle with great results.

FS Vitoria started in 2018 with a few students of the automotive engineering degree trying to make a formula student car. Our goal is to bring the electric vehicle closer to real life, creating a local collaboration network with companies, institutions, vocational training centres and schools. Now, 5 years later we are an established team with some competition experience and ready to demonstrate our abilities with our second monocoque vehicle.

Formula Student Vitoria has an important presence on the automotive events in the Basque Country. For example, last months we have been part of the FIA EcoRallye of Bilbao (FIA ecoRally Cup) as expositors, part of the scrutinising and technical advisors in Greenpower Iberia at the Circuit of Los Arcos, and part of the Science Fair of the Basque Country developing a small workshop with kids to show the relevance of electric mobility and programming in a funny way.

With the entering to the new season, the team has increased its members total number of 63, being the maximum since the creation of the team. The team is greatly motivated thanks to the results obtained in the three competitions we assist to FS UK, in Silverstone, FS PT in Castelo Branco and FSS in the Circuit of Barcelona Catalunya. Where we could make through all the battery and mechanical scrutineers in all the competitions, being this our first year with a fully functional car. The great moment was the FSS competition, since we could pass all the scrutineers so, the car took part in the Acceleration and Autocross events, with a 6º position as the best result.

The goal for this season the 23/24, is to improve the reliability of our electronic and electric system. On one side, the structural department is working to finish the new chassis for the third car, and our departments finishing the electric part of the vehicle. With the help of Eurocircuits, the team will be competing this year again, with the aim of doing all the dynamics events and finishing at least one endurance event, which would demonstrate the improvement of the reliability of the car.

Now, we are going to present the PCB that we have developed, and it has been manufactured by Eurocircuits, which is crucial for the battery accumulator of the car and for all the other control devices in the car.

BMU ROUTE PCB

One of the PCB’s that are part of the electrical system of our cars is the BMU ROUTE PCB. This is used to route the voltage measurements of the cells of our battery accumulator to the BMS. In that way we reduce to nearly zero the wires used inside the battery, and it carries a simpler and more efficient package because of the reduction of weak points.

Thanks to this PCB we save the wiring of that section, which helps to have a cleaner and a safer accumulator. That car battery accumulator is highly powerful with a capacity of 6.5 KWh and a maximal power of 107 KW.

This is one of our first PCB designs. Currently, we are evaluating the old design and making iterations of all the previous PCBs on the car, and more focused on sensors. Once we reach the optimal design, we will receive new PCBs from Eurocircuits. Working with Eurocircuits is a great guarantee for the project, as for its help during the PCBs manufacturing or its fast shipping and preparation. 2024 has just kicked off and the time for competitions is soon, so now starts the crucial moment for the development of the car. We will keep you posted with more news from the project, and always with Eurocircuits as a collaborator!