EEVC NEWSLETTER Published by the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club Peter Cleaveland, Editor Vol 30 No 1 Club Address: P.O. Box 134, Valley Forge, PA 19481-0134 JANUARY, 2010 email: [email protected]. Web site: www.eevc.info President: Oliver Perry, 5 Old Stagecoach Turn Shamong, NJ 08088, (609) 268-0944 Copyright © 20010, Eastern Electric Vehicle Club, all rights reserved Now affiliated with EAA THE 2009 EEVC MEMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO MICHAEL MANNING Oliver Perry As 2010 person select- begins, The ed not only EEVC salutes has made out- Michael Man- standing con- ning. He is tributions for most deserv- that year, but ing of the for many 2009 EEVC years. Member of the Most of our Year Award. members have Michael is a come to rely rare and on Michael’s unique indi- 40 years of vidual whom experience as we all have a physicist, come to materials sci- respect, appre- entist, and ciate, love and researcher to admire. We clarify and are proud to make clearer claim him as a Michael Manning, EEVC Member of the Year to us highly fellow mem- technical ber of the EEVC. He has been with us from information related to electric vehicles. the beginning. Mike has always been helpful Michael’s work experience has included and willing to share his knowledge and experimental therapeutic apparatus design, expertise with any and all members. This dis- scientific data organization, battery research, tinguished award is long overdue. computer applications, automotive repair, and At the beginning of each new year the electric car building expertise. From provid- EEVC Newsletter traditionally features an ing the chemical workings of batteries to EEVC member whom we feel deserves spe- explaining how electrical, mechanical, and cial recognition for their contributions to the electromagnetic devices work, Michael has EEVC for the previous year. Frequently the been an encyclopedia of knowledge for the EEVC membership for many years. Michael Manning applied. He was quickly hired in is an expert in the automotive field as well as June of 2008. in the electronic side of futuristic gadgets. Barry commissioned Mike to convert three Michael can inform us where a junk yard for of four newly purchased gasoline powered rare auto parts can be found as well as where Chinese vehicles. Mike incorporated a 44 we can look on line for the latest information pound three phase motor into the design. He regarding a new type of electric motor. He was forced to use lead acid batteries because can locate information on a computer and of price restrictions. Bernie did not want the assemble almost anything mechanical with cost of the vehicle to exceed 25,000 dollars. his hands. Michael is one of those hard to During a period of approximately six months find “renaissance men.” He is a member of Michael almost single handedly designed the our “think tank” EEVC team. electric drive train for the stripped vehicle. With the help of a few others Mike quickly 2009 Was an Active Year for Michael constructed a great working prototype for Manning and the EEVC BG. Using a 48 volt system Mike was able to The year 2009 was a very busy year for the obtain a range of 60 miles at an average EEVC. Michael was ready, willing and able speed of 37 mph. He was able to incorporate to assist us in every EEVC presentation and eight six volt, 435 ampere-hour industrial activity. The EEVC was asked to participate floor scrubber batteries without intruding into in electric vehicle events at the Moore School the vehicle’s five passenger seating space. of Art, The Green Expo in Philadelphia, the There is probably not a better running NEV 21st Century Automotive Challenge at Penn prototype anywhere in the world according to State, the presentation for the Southeastern Mike. One of the vehicles can be viewed in Pennsylvania Physics teachers Association at action by addressing “BG Electric Car” on Villanova University, the green car expo at U-tube. Mungie Park (near Allentown, PA), a Sunday Unfortunately changes in the economic cli- afternoon electric car rally in Mullica Hill, mate, along with dropping gasoline prices New Jersey, the Sustainable Energy Festival and a growing recession caused bankers to at Kempton, PA, and the presentation to the withdraw their promises. The money needed Audubon Society in Audubon, Pennsylvania. to set up vehicle production became impossi- In addition to attending all of these events, ble to acquire. Bernie declared bankruptcy Michael continued to make his many contri- and closed down the project. Michael’s butions to our monthly meetings at the Ply- employment was terminated toward the end mouth Whitemarsh High School. Michael of 2008. However, the desire to produce a Manning definitely earned the 2009 EEVC well working vehicle kept Michael and his member of the year award. skeleton crew at work even without full pay- ment. The company may have folded but Working for BG Corporation. Mike feels that his work was a success. In the late spring of 2008, a gentleman by the name of Bernie Bernstein came to one of Out of a Job and Available for the 21st our monthly EEVC meetings. Bernie, who CAC had made his mark in the steel business, Because Mike did not have permanent informed us that he intended to start an elec- employment this past year, he was available tric car company in Philadelphia. He planned to attend the 21st Century Automotive Chal- to produce a small neighbor hood type vehi- lenge at Penn State last April. Without cle called an NEV for his first entry into what Mike’s help and assistance it would have he believed was going to soon become a been almost impossible for us to take the viable market. Bernie was hoping that some- Burlington County Institute of Technology’s one in our organization would join his com- Electric Car, The Olympian, a converted Ford pany, called BG (Be Green), as an Escort, to the competition and compete as engineer/design manager and build his first well as we did. With Michael’s help we were prototype electric car by converting a gaso- able to compete in all categories, finish all line car, from China, to electric. Michael events, and earn a highly respected second 2 School in Philadelphia. It was here that he became involved with his first electric vehi- cle project. A former elementary school bus driver, by the name of Jim Sutton, contacted Mike and asked him to help restore two non- functional antique electric cars which he had inherited from his father. One vehicle was a Baker Electric and the other a Detroit Elec- tric. With the help of a local machine shop owned by Paul Retloff, Sr., Michael was able to reconstruct both drum speed controllers on each car using copper plates and wooden Mike Manning with the Olympian at Penn State in cylinders. He installed new wiring and a 72 April, 2009. volt system in each vehicle using twelve six volt 145 amp-hr lead acid batteries. Mike uti- lized a local generator, alternator, and starter place when the final tallies were made. rebuilding shop owned by a schoolmate’s father, Frances Destephano senior, to rebuild Hoping For a Grant at Rowan Energy both main drive motors. He was able to Inc. achieve a driving range of 45 miles at an For some individuals the bitterness of average speed of 20 mph with each car when experiencing the bankruptcy of B G Corpora- the project was finished. tion and the loss of a job in a down economy After high school graduation Mike attend- could place them on the street looking for a ed Temple University where he earned both homeless shelter. But Michael, always a cre- an Associates degree in electronics and a BA ative and a persistent soldier, managed to in physics. The Temple degree was followed keep his home and property, (minus some by an MS degree in physics from the Univer- furniture, electricity, and phone service), sity of Pennsylvania. afloat through short term and part time jobs. It has not been easy for him in this present Work History: WCAU-TV economy however. The first job listed (1960-67) on Michael’s Recently, Dennis Rowan of Rowan Energy résumé is that of a telecommunications engi- Inc., at Mardinly Enterprises Inc., invited neer at WCAU TV and FM Station in Mike to form a cooperative group (on a vol- Philadelphia, where Mike helped to engineer unteer no payment basis) to invent and engi- the conversion of WCAU-TV and FM trans- neer a unique battery connection technique mitting facilities from electron tube technolo- for the bi-directional charging and discharg- gy to transistor technology equipment. ing of electric vehicles into and out of the National Power Grid. Michael is still hoping Exide Research Lab for one of six government grant applications From 1967 to 1981 Michael took a chal- to come through to enable the company to lenging job in battery research and develop- follow through on at least one of their pro- ment at the Exide Research Center in Yard- posals, and for Mike to be paid for his ser- ley, Pennsylvania. vices. In the meantime the company occa- At Exide Michael was involved in the test- sionally finds Michael to be a useful mechan- ing of all sorts of new and old battery con- ic for minimum wage. Michael sometimes cepts. Even back then Mike said that Exide finds himself in the shop, turning wrenches was experimenting with lithium ion batteries. and twisting screwdrivers. (Which is far bet- One unusual battery that Mike remembers ter than turning bar stools and drinking experimenting with was a nickel-zinc chem- screwdrivers?) istry battery whose plates constantly grew interfering zinc tentacles.