Student Engineers Put Their Electric Vehicle Designs To The Test On The Track
A cadre of disruptors took the the track at the Rockingham Speedway for the Greenpower International Finals to put their homegrown electric vehicle designs to the test.
In total, 10,000 participants from 700 teams entered the prestigious competition, which whittled down the roster through a series of regional competitions over the course of 6 months. When the dust settled, 2,500 participants and 122 teams offered up their creations to be tested in the final race on the larger than life speedway.
The competition is the brainchild of the UK based Greenpower Education Trust that exists to find new and creative ways to engage the youth of the country in science and engineering. “Though the classroom, I kind of don’t like science at all, but coming and doing this and actually seeing how it’s put into action is really nice,” one student participant said.
“Greenpower is all about developing young people and inspiring them to take up STEM subjects in education, potentially leading to a technical career in the future,” Paul van Veggel, CEO, Greenpower Education Trust said. “Ford partnering with us not only supports that path, but acts as a fantastic example of the sort of forward-looking careers that are open to these young people.”
Teams come from a diverse mix of private companies, racing clubs, schools, technical colleges and universities, and from a number of countries including the UK, China, Portugal, Poland and Ireland. In the competition, the teams compete in two age categories: IET Formula 24 (ages 11-16) and IET Formula 24+ (ages 16-25).
“An electrification challenge such as this, gives participants a great introduction into modern engineering and we hope that the experience will encourage them to pursue careers developing the engineering solutions of the future,” Ford’s Urban Electric Vehicle Programme director Mark Harvey said.
The competition is an exciting manifestation of the ways electric vehicles are increasingly a part of mainstream culture. Perhaps more importantly, it provides an avenue for students to learn about electric vehicles and the fundamentals of their operation. And hey, who knows, maybe Ford will take some inspiration from the competition and start building fully electric vehicles of its own in earnest. A guy can dream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICcPV1h7atA
Source: Ford UK
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