Thank you, Daniel Family Foundation!

UBC Chem-E-Car is pleased to announce that we have received a very generous donation from the Daniel Family Foundation. The Daniel Family Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that supports Canadian charitable causes including basic scientific research, cancer care and renewable energy among other groups.

The funds will be used to expand the team’s activities related to research, outreach and experiments on renewable energy. To accommodate our growing membership, we intend to compete with two cars in the 2016-2017 AIChE Regionals next year instead of just one. Our team is also looking into constructing rechargeable batteries to replace our current primary cells, both as a standalone project and a power source for our new cars.

UBC Chem-E-Car would like to extend our special thanks for the Foundation’s outstanding support for UBC students and their generous investment in our professional and personal development. We recognize the Daniel Family Foundation as our Exclusive Diamond Sponsor.

UBC representing Canada at AIChE Nationals

In early April (the weekend before exams!) our team managed to secure a spot at the AIChE National Chem-E-Car competition by placing 2nd in our Region. We have now received a list of teams that qualified for the AIChE Nationals; unfortunately, none of our Canadian counterparts qualified. To ensure Canada (and UBC) is well represented at the AIChE National Competition, we are currently designing upgrades to our vehicle to increase consistency of our trials as well as performing experiments to better understand our reactions.

Again, we will be showcasing a controlled on-board hydrogen production reaction (sodium borohydride with water over catalyst).

Design & Donations

May 15, 2013

We are halfway through our design month and have some ideas for the new chassis and reactor. We have also been working on a new control system, which should eliminate most of our variables that relate to speed and distance control. We will be releasing some of our designs at the end of the month along with a sneak peak at our new control system.

We have managed to recover some scrap aluminum and are seeking donations of any kind, the more scrap raw materials we can salvage the more environmentally friendly our car will be. Our ideal car is one that has almost entirely recycled parts, because it becomes less expensive economically and environmentally.

Lastly, we are trying to improve our sensing technology to be able to better characterize our reaction and improve our information on the reaction kinetics involved. If interested in donating parts or funds to the project please contact:
project.chem-e@live.ca or sponsorship.chem-e@live.ca

All donations are very appreciated!