EV · Battery · Power electronics
Bronco Racing FSAE
High-voltage tractive systems for SCU's Formula SAE electric cars
End-to-end ownership of the >400 V electrical stack across two car generations: BMS, charging, safety circuits, CAN, and thermal management.
- 01Programmed the Orion BMS 2 on a ~420 V max accumulator: cell monitoring, SoC, safety interlocks
- 02Designed and reviewed shutdown, precharge, discharge, and IMD PCBs; caught protection-logic errors before fab
- 03540 V on-board charger install plus a charging cart with safety shutdown and deadman lock
- 04140+ thermistor harness with ~50 percent measurement-accuracy improvement
- 05Architected the vehicle CAN network with a custom Python diagnostic GUI
- 06Now owning BMS, thermal, charging, DAQ, driver display, and LV for the 2027 car
- BR1 design + build
- BR1 bench validation
- BR2 design + ordering
- BR2 build (Mar 2027)
- Competition (Jun 2027)
BR1 (2026 car): the HV stack, end to end
As High-Voltage & Co-Electrical Lead I owned the tractive-system electrical stack: programming and configuring the Orion BMS 2 for the accumulator, designing thermal-management expansion modules, programming and installing a 540 V on-board charger, and designing the charging cart with current/voltage control, a safety-shutdown circuit, and a deadman lock. I designed schematic sections for the shutdown and charging-shutdown circuits, reviewed the precharge, discharge, and IMD boards for FSAE EV compliance, and contributed to the tractive-system layout across the vehicle. The 2026 season ended with the HV system bench-validated; the team made a deliberate safety call not to run it at competition.
- BR1 accumulator
- 100s3p, Molicel P45B, ~360 V nominal / ~420 V max
- BMS
- Orion BMS 2, custom thermal expansion modules
- Charging
- 540 V on-board charger + custom charging cart with safety shutdown and deadman lock
- Instrumentation
- 140+ thermistor harness, ~50% measurement-accuracy improvement
- Comms
- Vehicle CAN network, STM32 firmware, Python diagnostic GUI
BR2 (2027 car): current scope
For the 2027 car I'm the HV Engineer across electrical and powertrain: all powertrain electronics for an Emrax 228 motor with a DTI controller, plus the BMS, thermal management, charging system, data acquisition, driver display, and all low-voltage electronics. I'm currently building the charging cart from scratch: rebuilding the shutdown-circuit PCB, soldering, wiring, system architecture, CAD and 3D printing, and documentation.
- BR2 pack
- ~120s4p, Molicel P50B 21700, ~432 V nominal / 504 V max, ~8.6 kWh
- Powertrain
- Emrax 228 motor, DTI motor controller
- Modules
- Outsourced Enepaq 4p1s modules
- My scope
- BMS, thermal, charging, DAQ, driver display, LV electronics, charging cart
Battery-safety innovation concept (in exploration)
- Evaluating DEP BRT in-cell thermal-runaway sensors that detect electrochemical change before venting; the vendor's validation cites roughly 12 minutes of pre-vent warning.
- Planned as an FSAE innovation-award concept submission, not a delivered result.