Key 1

Jennifer Key
Dr. Jim Brooks
English IV Honors
8 April 2014
Electric Vehicle Challenge
Electric Vehicles have been around since 1836, and high schools have been building
them in North Carolina since 1993 (Garrett). When a teacher or a school decides to take on the
Electric Vehicle Challenge, there are many things that they would have to consider. Some
challenges of having a program like this at a school is not having the funds or the physical
facilities to take on such a huge program. But, having a program like this can also have several
benefits, such as: eighty-four percent of students are more confident in a science classroom, and
thirty-four percent of students stated that they are more than likely going into an engineering
field after school (Rozet). The Electric Vehicle Challenge is not only beneficial to the students,
but several of the students love working on cars or just love to learn new things. This program
has a rich history with many benefits and challenges to the kids. This program can go as far as
having sub projects connected to it, all the way to working with social networking.
The Electric Vehicle Challenge has a very rich history, and one of the two men that
started the program back in 1993 has been working with electric motors and such since the
seventies (Ryan). Then in 1993 Eric Ryan moved to North Carolina to teach in a rural area and
ended up starting the Electric Vehicle Challenge at Northampton-East High. His co-worker,
Harold Miller, had been wanted to start a program up like this for years prior to 1993. Mr. Ryan
and Mr. Miller started this program to get students to do things they had never done before and
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to challenge kids in the class and out (Kettlewell). The first car they built was a twice-totaled
1985 Ford Escort that the team named Shocker. The first time this car ever ran was in early
April of 1994. Next the students went on to build a 1989 Geo Metro, which they named
Shocker II. Two years after Shocker II a new set of students build another 1985 Ford
Escort. The new cars name was Shocker III. The last car they built is still running today. At
the 2014 EV Challenge Northampton brought Shocker III to the competition. Mr. Ryan does
not currently teach at the school, but he still stays connected to the program (Ryan). Also, along
with building these cars and letting kids do things they would have never have got the chance to
do, the teachers also found a way to merge the physics class with the automotive class. When
the school built their
first car, there was no
competition around for
them to use their cars
in. The team traveled
to Arizona to compete
in a competition being
held there (Garrett).
The students in the first years team saw how the Electric Vehicle Program affected their lives,
and the students now are talking about the effects.
When talking to these students that see the benefits and effects from having this
program, one student from the Virginia Governors school mentioned that I highly enjoy the EV
trips; I also truly enjoy getting to work with the electrical system of the vehicle (Key). Another
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student also stated that the Electric Vehicle Challenge has also helped them with friends. As a
team these students have grown very close (Key). Currently this program has five states that
have accepted the challenge; these states include Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, West
Virginia, and Iowa (Rozet). Every one of these schools in these states has things to say about
the effects and benefits of this program. When asked how this program benefits the students, a
teacher in North Carolina said that students learn teamwork, responsibility, electrical skills,
public speaking, and most important, critical thinking (Key). This teacher not only mentioned
those things, but also went on to say that [EV] is a worthwhile program that provides students
with unparalleled experiences and opportunities; every school should strive to have a program
like this (Key). A student at a different school mentioned that the Electric Vehicle team has
affected his other school work in positive ways because it has helped him open his eyes to other
ways to find answers. But, not every student does great in this type of program. With this
program the students have a lot of freedom and some just cannot seem to handle that. One
student mentioned about how his grades had dropped at first, but now that he sees what he is
working with his grades are slowly coming back up (Key).
It is not just the people that are in this program that see the effects and the benefits, but
the principal of West Wilkes High School in North Carolina had a few things to say about the
program. When talking about having the Electric Vehicle Team students working with the other
technology and engineering students in the first or second level class, the students in the
technology and engineering classes getting to see what the EV Team does and how it operates.
Mr. Shepherd said that I think thats a very good point, and I wished other students took
advantage of those kinds of things. With [EV] the job market is just wide open (Shepherd).
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Mr. Shepherd also mentioned that funding is a major hurtle to jump when having a program and
class like the Electric Vehicle Program; with more students that want to take these classes and be
a part of the program, the easier it is to keep doing this type of program. Back four or so years
ago, the budget to have programs and classes that were specially designed for the Electric
Vehicle Challenge kids was more likely, but now that the budget has dwindled down, it is hard to
justify having a that was just Electric Vehicle Program students (Shepherd).
Funding is huge part of having an Electric Vehicle Program. It can get very costly to
have this type of program. The first thing a school needs when starting a project is a place to
build the cars. Then the school would have to buy a car, or have a car donated to them. Once a
school has the place and the car, then all of the electrical systems that go into the car would have
to be bought. A typical conversion can cost upwards of $10,000. In an interview of the director
of the Electric Vehicle Challenge, Steve Garrett said that I see no reason that a school could not
benefit from incorporating the EV program in their school. Most schools I have contacted are
concerned with the cost, and some do not have the physical facilities to convert a full scale
vehicle (Garrett). He then went on to mentioned a new project that the program is starting for
schools that currently do not have the funds to start a full scale electric vehicle project. The
smaller scale project is called STEM Cycle, I feel the STEM Cycle will be a great entry level
vehicle for any school (Garrett).
Jack Martin is spearheading the effort to bring a small scale electric vehicle to compete
within the EV Challenge as additional class of vehicle (EV Challenge). The small scale project
that is being mentioned in the quote above is the STEM Cycle project. The Electric Vehicle
Challenge is currently trying to get schools that currently cannot afford to take on such a huge
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project, such as converting an internal combustion vehicle to electric (EV Challenge). One
school that took on the STEP Cycle was Topsail High in North Carolina. The EV program has
been hard at work designing our small-scale (Electrathon-style) electric vehicle over the past two
months (Topsail). This is what the team had to say about building their STEM Cycle car
(Topsail). As noted, the STEM Cycle is modeled after the Electrathon Challenge, which is just
another electric race.
Topsail High School has been a part of the Electric Vehicle Challenge since the 2000-
2001 school year. Over the past fourteen years Topsail has successfully converted five cars.
Those cars include: a Toyota Paseo, Pontiac Fiero, 1996 Ford Ranger, 2001 Ford Ranger, 1991
Toyota MR2 and a classic 1961 Volkswagen Bug. To complete all of their vehicles and projects
that they take on throughout the year, the team meets before school, and for doing this they
receive course credit for their participation. They typically average between ten and twelve
students a year. Ten to twelve students is a fairly large number. Some schools only have three to
four members during the year. Over the last ten years Topsail has won first place overall at the
Electric Vehicle Challenge. Like most schools in the program all of their funding comes from
community sponsorships and fundraising (Key).
Another school that has accepted the Electric Vehicle Challenge was the Morehead High
School in Eden, North Carolina (Dooley). This school has been working on its funding by using
gofundme.com (EV Challenge). This team has been around for almost five years, and the team
has converted a 1997 Saturn SL2. A small group of dedicated students are striving to make a
difference. They are known as the Morehead High School Electric Vehicle Club, or
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MHSEvTeam. Their goal is to build alternative fuel vehicles that are not dependent on fossil
fuels, said Max Dooley (Dooley). Like several of the other schools in the Electric Vehicle
Challenge, Morehead High School also has a Facebook page.
Social networking has become a regular part of the Electric Vehicle Challenge. Almost
every school team has a Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or some other form of social network
that they use to stay in contact with the students and the community (EV Challenge). For many
schools that have been in the program for a long time, the transition to using social networking to
stay in touch with members and the community can be a hard one. But, as students learn more
about these websites, the more they can use them to their advantage, and by being on social
network websites, the students can stay involved with their sponsors and donors to the program.
To go from social networking to the benefits to the hurdles that the school must jump to
have this program, it can be a whirlwind of different things going on. Each school has their
students do different things all at once. One student may be working a paper about the program,
and then another student may be setting up and creating a website for the program. All of these
things can impact and have an effect of each individual student, whether that be a good or bad
thing. The statistics of someone doing this program are that sixty-eight percent of students claim
to do better in their science classrooms, while thirty percent of students claim that they would
more than likely want to have a career in science (Rozet). But what about the personal aspect of
the Electric Vehicle Program? EV has helped our team grow quite close, (Key) is a quote
from a student in the program, and that seems to be a big part of the Electric Vehicle Team
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(Key). Not always building a car or learning new things, but building relationships that will
hopefully last for many years to come.


















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Works Cited
Dooley, Max. "Morehead High." EV (Electric Vehicle) Team. Overview. Morehead High, Web.
02 Apr. 2014. < http://www.rock.k12.nc.us/Domain/1294>
"EV Challenge." EV Challenge. 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. < http://www.evchallengekids.org/>
Garrett, Steve. "EV Challenge." E-mail interview. 28 Mar. 2014.
Kettlewell, Caroline. Electric Dreams.: Transition Vendor. 2006. Print.
Key, Jennifer A. "Electric Vehicle Survey." Electric Vehicle. Weebly, Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
<http://graduationprojectwwhs.weebly.com/>
"Miramar EV Team." Miramar EV Team. Home. Miramar, 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.miramarev.com/index.htm>
Rozet, Linda. "EV Challenge - Charging Students with Growth." The Research Triangle Park.
Therptblog.org, 4 Dec. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.< http://thertpblog.org/ev-challenge-
charging-students-with-growth/>
Ryan, Eric. "The Founder of the EV Challenge." E-mail interview. 8 Apr. 2014.
Shepherd, Wayne. "The Principle on EV's." Personal interview. 31 Mar. 2014.
"Topsail High School Electric Vehicle Blog." Topsail High School Electric Vehicle Blog. June
2009. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. <http://thsev.blogspot.com.br/>.