All About Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AFV)

By: Bill Brown. Dec 12, 2007
Source: Hurricane Valley Journal
http://www.hvjournal.com/articles.php?id=3906
&art_title=HHS_Building_Electric_Car

With the price of gasoline rising every year, and no end in sight, the electric car may be in our future. An electric car is definitely in the future of a group of Hurricane High School students. Tera Houston’s Introduction to Engineering class is, among other projects, building an electric car. They plan on taking it to an Electrathon America race in Salt Lake City in May, 2008.

Houston said the idea for building the electric car was born as a result of an engineering class she and 5 other instructors from local high schools took at BYU in 2005. Their final project was to build an electric car to compete in the Electrathon America event. Houston decided to see if the students in her engineering class would be interested in building their own car during the school year. She said they tried to build one last year, but were not able to get it done in time.

“I think we will make it this year,” Houston said. She said the students were using the car she helped build as a test bed for several design concepts. They will also be using parts off last years car that never got completed in this year’s car. She said the students will be learning from previous year’s successes and failures, and applying those lessons in their design.

“This project emphasizes many of the principle points of this class,” Houston said. “It teaches design, application of the design, decision making, and problems solving skills.” She added it helps make teaching these principles fun for the students as well. The purpose of her class, she said, was to introduce students to the basics of engineering, to help them decide if this is a career choice they want to pursue.

“Engineering skills can be adapted to just about any situation,” Daniel Force, a senior in Houston’s engineering class, said. “The decision making processes and problem solving skills can be used anywhere.” Force said he is intending to pursue a business degree after high school, but enjoys engineering as well. He is one of the project coordinators for the car project.

Reed Bringhurst, who is also a senior in Houston’s class, and the other main project coordinator for the electric car project, said he is planing on pursuing a career in engineering. He is not sure at this point where he wants to specialize, he said. He is considering either mechanical or nuclear engineering.

Force said they split the class up into groups to study different aspects of the car’s design and decide the pros and cons of the different options. The groups then reported back to the group with recommendations to incorporate into their design. Bringhurst said the class was still pretty much in the design phase, though they have started work on the frame for the car.

“We have a crew of guys working on putting the frame frame together,” Bringhurst said. “They have to bend the pipe just right, then weld it in place. It is a lot harder then it looks.” The wheels have to line up exactly, he added, and the motor has to be mounted precisely in order to obtain the best results. Bringhurst also said the motor, batteries, and frame need to be mounted in the correct sequence as well. “There will always be changes in the plan,” Bringhurst said. “That is where problem solving skills come in to play.”

Houston said some of the difficulties they face is manufacturing the parts they need. She said many of the parts they need to build the car are unique, and have to be designed and manufactured by the students. However, she said, they do not have the facilities to make the parts they need. Quite often they have to try to find something at the hardware store that might work, and try to modify it to meet their needs. This takes a lot of time and makes the whole process take longer, she said.

They already have the motor they will be using, and are currently experimenting with batteries. They have two regular car batteries on the prototype build by Houston and her partners, and are trying to decide if it is worth the expense to go with deep cycle batteries, or perhaps even look at gel cell batteries. The problem is the expense, Bringhurst said.
“We do have a budget to build the car,” Force said. “However, it is not that big.”

Force said they have a chosen Carson Webb to drive the car, once they get it done. Force said they chose Webb because he was small, and he was willing to do it. “We think he is crazy,” Force said. The team is aiming to get the car done in time for the race in May. Both Force and Bringhurst said they are pretty sure they will make it this year. They are looking forward to the race, but are realistic in their outlook as far a winning the race is concerned.

“We are not really expecting to win this year,” Force said. “We just want to make it there this year. This year we just want to go for it.” Force and Bringhurst said they were looking for sponsorship from the community for the car project. They said the class is intent on designing and building the car themselves, but would appreciate information, parts and advice from those interested in the project.

According to the Electrathon America handbook, the race has several objectives, including providing a forum where skill and ingenuity can be shown, tested and compared. It also strives to improve public awareness and understanding of efficient electric vehicles and related technology.

According to their Web site, www.electrathonamerica.org, last year 5 cars were able to travel more then 50 miles in an hour using less energy then a small hair drier. According to the article, that is the equivalent of getting 1500 miles per gallon at highway speeds.
For more information about the electric car project contact
Tera Houston at Hurricane High School, 635-3280.
For more information about Electrathon America, visit their Web site,
www.electrathonamerica.org.