Formula Student (FS) is an international engineering design competition where teams of university students compete against each other in design, construction and racing of formula style race cars. The competitions are held every year on racetracks across Europe and other continents, and are organized by major companies from the automotive industry. The companies organize these competitions for promotion purposes, but also for finding and recruiting new engineering students who gained valuable experience during their development of the vehicle.
In the beginning years of the competition all competing race cars were powered by internal combustion engines. As yeas passed and progress has been made in higher energy density batteries and high specific power electrical motors, some teams decided to switch to an electric powertrain. As the automotive industry started shifting into production of electric vehicles more and more teams started switching to electrical propulsion, which was already starting to outclass cars with internal combustion engines. One of these teams was the team of students from University of Ljubljana -- Superior Engineering, which successfully made the switch to electric in the year 2018 and has been competing with electric cars ever since.
All modern vehicles, either electric or combustion, use computers to control the vehicle and its powertrain. In the world of combustion vehicles a widely adopted term for this computer is called the engine control unit or ECU. But in the world of electric vehicles, a more common term for this device is called the vehicle control unit or VCU. This master's thesis presents the design and construction of one such VCU that has been used on an FS race car which competed in the year 2021. The work is separated into multiple stages of its design. In the introduction we establish a set of requirements that were determined before the construction phase. After that we present the design of the electrical board itself. Followed by that is the presentation of the software package that was developed for the VCU, which has to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle as well as make the most use of the electric powertrain for the purposes of energy efficiency and better lap times on the track.
At the end we present the results of the testing period and the competitions. The 2021 car equipped with the VCU has entered in four competitions across Europe, where it achieved podiums in multiple categories.
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