Return to in-person operations, manufacturing, and design to turn our prototype into an operational vehicle.

This season marks Princeton Racing Electric’s return to in-person activities and first competition entry in the Formula Hybrid + Electric (FHE) competition since 2019 following two years of COVID-19. This year, our largest engineering goals involved redesigning the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain of our vehicle. This was necessitated by an inability to iterate upon our existing vehicle (last raced in 2019) which had fallen out of compliance with competition regulations due to its age and new regulations. Building from the remote design work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we aimed to design and manufacture our 2022 vehicle with the goal of completing an operational vehicle that could pass FHE’s stringent safety requirements.

Finally, PRE has introduced the concept of a “tick-tock” design cycle with “tick” (large scale improvements) and “tock” (perfecting the design) years. We believe that institutionalizing this design cycle will allow PRE to build more performant, efficient, and thoughtful vehicles with significant improvements every year.

Though we were unable to meet this goal, our designs have been completed and we have made significant progress towards the completion of manufacturing and assembly. Additionally, we have been able to provide our members with significant hands-on experience designing and manufacturing numerous vehicle components to meet stringent engineering standards. This allows us to begin our transition to a new design and manufacturing timeline which we predict will improve member engagement, provide easier access to design and hands-on manufacturing experience throughout the academic year.