Modern-day Engineering History in the Making

Belmont Trolley Inc. sponsored a COE senior design project. This project involved modifying a bit of history. The traditional trolley was converted into one run by a lithium battery system. This multidisciplinary engineering project will be the one-of-a-kind innovative showpiece that revives the historic car into a modern-day electric vehicle or EV.

The car, known historically as the Brill Company Electric’s #30, is one hundred and eleven years old. In the 1980s, Car 30 was shipped to the US from Portugal, where it had been in service since 1912. For many years, it sat idle. First in Oregon and later in Surrey BC, Canada until Belmont Trolley purchased it a short while ago. College of Engineering faculty have been researching ways to efficiently convert rail cars to EV for years. The partnership was destined to be on the right track.

The project advisors are Drs. John McAlpine (Mechanical), Shenen Chen (Civil), Tiefu Zhao (Electrical), and Nicole Braxtan (Civil) with Mr. Dave Naylor (Civil). Belmont Trolley Inc. representatives are Mr. Nathan Wells and Mr. Rob Pressley of Belmont. Students (pictured below) included Carson Lafferty, Collin Davis, Leandro Mongelluzzo, Mitchell Odhiambo, William Gibson, Mohammed Alghanam, Adeola Anjorin (CEE undergrad student).

When completely revamped, the vehicle will provide sightseeing tours from downtown Belmont to Belmont Abbey, carrying up to 20 passengers at a time. The route is part of the state’s Carolina Thread Trail. Read more about Belmont Trolley here.