High School Kids Building Electric Cars

May 18, 2010 | Story by: Community Contributor | Categories: Environment

Story by Matt Fisher, photos by Karl Fisher

Cary, NC – The SMARTT Challenge (Students Making Advancements in Renewable Transportation Technologies) ran another successful competition this Saturday, despite the hot weather. This marks the 16th anniversary of the challenge. I went to the challenge with my father, CaryCitizen photographer Karl Fisher.

The challenge was sponsored and hosted by SAS Institute and took place in a parking lot turned to race track.

The idea of the challenge was to get high schools around the country, including teams from North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Iowa and more, to modify gasoline vehicles to run solely on electric power. The teams then participated in events that displayed their cars, inside and out.

The cars were divided into three categories: Car, Truck and modified. Modified cars were allowed more latitude with respect to voltage used, motors, tires, and other features, while stock cars had to adhere to strict limitations.

This year, eight high schools, brandishing ten electric cars, showed up to the final event at SAS. Cars were judged in categories, depending on if they were stock or modified, including Troubleshooting, Oral Presentation, Autocross performance, Design, and more.

In the end, Topsail High School, from North Carolina, came out on top with their modified yellow Ford Ranger. Topsail High school won the Oral Presentation, Range (Stock cars), Website, and Vehicle Design (Stock cars) categories for their vehicle.

Miramar High School, in Florida, entered their Porsche 940, and ended in second place, winning the Vehicle Design (Modified cars) category.

Topsail High School’s other entry, a Toyota MR2, took third place, winning the Range (Modified cars) and Autocross (Modified Cars) categories.

Every school that participated did very well overall. Both Autocrosses, modified and stock, were thoroughly entertaining races, and it’s hard to imagine that not a drop of gasoline was used in the performance of the vehicles.

It was a wonderful event to witness and I can definitely say that I’m looking forward to going to watch the 17th annual SMARTT Challenge next year.