Homegrown electrics
High-school students build electric cars in auto shop
When I was in high school, I always wanted to build my own car.
Still do, in fact. Doodles are all over my lecture notes; fantasy
specifications scribbled in the margins of newspapers and magazines.
More often than not, my fantastical renderings are powered by
electric motors&emdash;so long as you're dreaming, why not go all the
way, right?
For some high-school students, these cars are far more than
dreams; they've become reality right in their schools' auto shops.
For several years now, the Electric Vehicle Society of Canada's
Toronto Chapter has been promoting electric conversions of compact
cars as a way for students with an interest in automobiles,
technology, and the environment to gain some hands-on experience.
The vehicles, often donations from manufacturers, are put together
in high-school auto shops, usually as extracurricular projects.
The conversion basically consists of removing the gasoline engine
and its associated parts and inserting an electric motor, batteries,
and charging equipment. It's a relatively simple operation and
doesn't require engineering degrees, just ingenuity and
determination.
Don Bosco Secondary School, for example, has run a converted
executive-driven Acura Integra in several competitions down south,
including the Tour de Sol through five New England states, and a
combination slalom/road-race/drag-strip/range/pit crew competition in
Phoenix, Arizona, and beat several US entries which were designed by
professional engineers. It's been gutted and fitted with a rollcage,
but otherwise is surprisingly stock: the 100-volt electric motor is
even connected to the car's standard five-speed transmission.
Marian Academy Secondary's Asüna Sunfire (an Isuzu Impulse in
drag, donated by GM Canada) also competed in Tour de Sol, and unlike
Don Bosco's vehicle, is actually street-legal. Built in a short
period of time "over twenty-four hour shifts," one student jokes, its
sports-car credentials are surprising. It accelerates with gusto,
and&emdash;downhill&emdash;hits 170 km/h. If nothing else, it serves
to dispel the commonly-held perception of electric vehicles as slow,
stodgy slugs of metal.
Still, many hurdles remain. The car's range of 110 km can only be
achieved under a constant 20 km/h cruise. Weight is still a big
problem&emdash;despite the removal of the car's rear seat and many
other non-essential components, it still weighs in at two hundred
pounds over the original car's. The brakes and steering don't have
power assist.
The major problem with this and any other high-school-run program,
though, remains funding. Don Bosco barely had enough cash to go to
Phoenix this year; other schools have faced similar fates. Perhaps
more importantly, the lack of money also means a low profile for such
programs, and discourages other high schools from getting in on the
act. A meeting that I attended with the Society had a disappointing
turnout&emdash;less than fifteen respondents to a hundred and fifty
invitations sent out.
Monte Gisborne, the Society's treasurer, thinks that sponsorships
are the way to obtain the necessary cash as well as to raise a
program's profile. His own personal project, a converted 120-volt,
130 km/h Pontiac Firefly, was funded by a car dealership and a public
utilities commission. He was able to raise $12,000 in three months
working in his free time; he figures that high schools, with more
time and manpower at their disposal, as well as a greater level of
involvement, ought to easily better that.
In a way, it's a shame that more high schools haven't yet clued in
on this growing trend. Not only is the work great for students
interested in the automotive field&emdash;especially female students,
I'm told, as electric cars, by their nature, are quieter, smarter,
less overtly macho&emdash;but it's important in an environmental
sense too; with the world's gas-powered vehicular population growing
at an unprecedented rate, it's clear that something must be done to
stem the flow of emissions.
Something at such a grassroots, car-at-a-time level, and
especially one that enriches the lives of the young people working on
it in so many ways, ought to be given a much better chance to
succeed.
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For more information:
Howard Hutt, Electric Vehicle Society of Canada, Toronto Chapter
21 Burritt Road, Scarborough ON, M1R 3S5
Phone/Fax 416-755-4324; email
hwhutt@pathcom.com
Meetings held on third Thursday of each month except July and
August at Centennial College's Ashtonbee Campus, 7:30 PM.