Electric competition vehicle and method for controlling the same

An electric vehicle for a race, comprising:

• a drive wheel;
• an electric motor linked to the drive wheel;
• a battery that supplies power to the electric motor;
• a remaining battery level detection unit that detects a remaining level of the battery;
• a control unit that controls the electric motor;
• and
• a throttle operator that is connected to the control unit and is operated by a rider of the electric vehicle when the rider adjusts an output of the electric motor,
• wherein the control unit includes:
• a motor control section that controls the output of the electric motor based on an amount of operation of the throttle operator,
• a power consumption rate calculation section that calculates a power consumption rate of the electric motor after a start of the race,
• a travelable time estimation section that estimates a travelable time based on the remaining level of the battery and the power consumption rate of the electric motor, and
• a notification section that notifies the rider of the travelable time.

An electric vehicle for a race, comprising:

• a drive wheel;
• an electric motor linked to the drive wheel;
• a battery that supplies power to the electric motor;
• a remaining battery level detection unit that detects a remaining level of the battery;
• a control unit that controls the electric motor;
• and
• a throttle operator that is connected to the control unit and is operated by a rider of the electric vehicle when the rider adjusts an output of the electric motor,
• wherein the control unit includes:
• a motor control section that controls the output of the electric motor based on an amount of operation of the throttle operator,
• a power consumption rate calculation section that calculates a power consumption rate of the electric motor after a start of the race, and
• a travelable time estimation section that estimates a travelable time based on the remaining level of the battery and the power consumption rate of the electric motor;
• and
• wherein the electric vehicle is a motocrosser.

A method for controlling an electric vehicle for a race, the electric vehicle including:

• a drive wheel;
• an electric motor linked to the drive wheel;
• a battery that supplies power to the electric motor;
• and
• a throttle operator that is operated by a rider of the electric vehicle when the rider adjusts an output of the electric motor,
• the method comprising:
• a remaining battery level detection step of detecting a remaining level of the battery;
• a power consumption rate calculation step of calculating a power consumption rate of the electric motor after a start of the race;
• a travelable time estimation step of estimating a travelable time based on the remaining level of the battery and the power consumption rate of the electric motor;
• a motor control step of controlling the output of the electric motor based on an amount of operation of the throttle operator,
• a travel time input step in which an estimated travel time is received;
• an elapsed time measuring step of estimating an elapsed time since the start of the race;
• and
• a remaining time calculation step of calculating a remaining time by subtracting the elapsed time from the estimated travel time,
• wherein the motor control step further includes
• determining whether the travelable time is less than the remaining time, and
• limiting the output of the electric motor upon detecting that the travelable time is less than the remaining time;
• and
• wherein the output of the electric motor is limited in the motor control step based on the travelable time estimated in the travelable time estimation step.