2005 Final Event

EV Challenge Celebrates 10th anniversary at this year's Final Event

This year's annual EV Challenge Final Event weekend April 1-2 marked a milestone - the 10th anniversary of the country' premier alternative fuel education program.

Predicted downpours held off Friday, April 1, allowing participating high schools to enjoy dry conditions for outside activities that featured the range event, all held at the Harris Energy and Environmental Center in New Hill, near Raleigh. The range event tests how far the student-designed street-legal electric vehicles can travel and loops around the Harris Campus and throughout the rural New Hill community.

Students, teachers, parents, volunteers and spectators enjoyed Progress Energy's hospitality at the Harris Center, where students were encouraged to participate in mini-learning labs between events. Progress Energy's staff developed the learning labs as a fun way to raise awareness about energy issues among students. Participants completing all four labs received a Progress Energy backpack emblazoned with the EV Challenge logo.

Aside from the learning labs and range event, Friday's activities included troubleshooting, oral presentations, vehicle inspections, design competitions and a mandatory group meeting for drivers.

Vehicles on display

Junior Solar Sprint

Autocross

Up Close

Anniversary dinner

Progress Energy's hospitality extended into the evening as high school students, teachers, parents, key supporters, and event volunteers celebrated the program's 10th anniversary at Fire Mountain in Cary. Ralph Goodwin, executive director of the Carolina Electric Vehicle Coalition (CEVC), the nonprofit that sponsors the EV Challenge, sent invitations to students that promised an endless buffet, door prizes and short speeches.

Goodwin kept his word. He provided a brief overview of the EV program, thanked key sponsors and volunteers then turned over the program to Sharon Stroud with the State Energy Office (SEO), which is the primary sponsor of the EV Challenge. Stroud reminded the students of the importance of their work to the future of alternative fuel application and energy conservation and told the group how proud she was that the SEO was affiliated with the program.

Goodwin thanked Stroud for her personal commitment to the EV Challenge and reiterated that the initiative could not exist without the support of the SEO, which depends on state funding. He urged North Carolina participants to write their legislators to ask for continued support and to ensure that NC elected officials understand the value of the program.

Saturday at Wakefield High School

High school participants ran sometimes soggy autocross events on Saturday at Wakefield and helped to cheer on the middle school students, whose activities took place inside the Wakefield High School gymnasium due to rain. Middle school students relied on back-up battery power to fuel their model cars, which were judged on several criteria, including creativity, design, speed and distance.

The middle school program is centered on the Junior Solar Sprint (JSS) curriculum, developed by the US Department of Energy, and is managed by the NC Solar Center. Bryan Roy of the Solar Center directs the JSS program for the CEVC, and said he was pleased with the event. "There's always a dimension lost when the cars come inside, because the student designs play off how their solar panels are angled to work with the sun. But there is a lot to learn when their designs run on batteries as well."

Roy said one of the most gratifying aspects of the JSS program is to witness the problem-solving that takes place during the day, as students work to repair their designs and modify their model cars for changing conditions and various competitions.

Goodwin echoed these sentiments and said some of his favorite stories from this year's Final Event weekend involved trouble-shooting and knowledge sharing. "The EV Challenge is more about education and hands-on learning than it is about competition," he said. "And I saw a lot of evidence of that during the Final Event this year."

One example is Topsail High School, which lost a vehicle Friday after accidentally leaving the car in gear and towing it to the hotel from the Harris Center. Despite this heart-breaking mistake, Topsail students and their teacher were quick to assist the crowd from Shenandoah Valley, who had a vehicle experiencing technical difficulty. On top of car trouble, Shenandoah students were minus the expertise normally supplied by their instructor, who was absent due to a prior commitment. Topsail High students pitched in and helped solve Shenandoah's vehicle problems so the Virginia school could participate in Saturday's autocross.

Also noteworthy is the support that got Shenandoah Valley to the Final Event. Parents and other instructors from the school traveled with the team so they could participate, despite their instructor's prior commitment.

Then there was M-Tech, otherwise known as Monongalia County Technical Education Center. After losing the adapter plate on one vehicle, students and instructors took the car apart in the hotel parking lot Friday night after dinner, even pulling out the motor − with no shop, few tools and not much but determination and their collective knowledge to repair the problem so they could participate in the autocross Saturday.

"These are the kinds of stories and experiences that make the EV Challenge so special and unique," Goodwin said. "This is what has sustained the program for the last ten years, and we anticipate decades to come."