High School Students Explore Future of Electric Cars
By Kathryn Boughton
November 6, 2009

SALISBURY — In January 2007 13 percent of Americans said they had never heard of global warming, according to an ACNeilsen poll of 46 countries. That figure may or may not have changed, but those Americans who had heard of global warming by 2009 are now choosing not to believe in it. A Pew Research report released last week said that 57 percent of Americans think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer-but that figure is down 20 points from three years ago.

But the scientific evidence appears to be irrefutable, and today’s young people form the group most likely to be dramatically affected by the global crisis. They are, in many ways, the ones charged with cleaning up the mess and schools throughout the state are responding to the challenge of preparing the leaders of tomorrow by engaging them in projects that challenge them to think about global solutions creatively. Such a group met last Friday at Salisbury’s Lime Rock Park where the annual Electrathon Competition was held.

Student teams from across the state met to test electric cars they had crafted, seeing which team could drive the most laps in one hour on a closed loop track. The single-person, lightweight, aerodynamic vehicles are designed with three or four wheels and must meet specific design and safety rules established by Electrathon America, The cars are powered by standardized deep cycle lead acid battery packs not exceeding 64 pounds.

The team from Nathan Hale Ray High School in East Haddam took the overall win last week. Entered in the “Composite” category (fiberglass, wood or carbon-fiber monocoque chassis), the car completed 119 laps of Lime Rock’s 2/10-mile autocross test track in the allotted one hour, for a total of 23.8 miles.

Second overall and first in the “Classic” category (metal space-frame chassis) was the Lyme-Old Lyme High School vehicle, which completed 115 laps (23.0 miles). Tied for second place in the Classic division were Old Saybrook High School and the Somers High School, with 109 laps (21.8 miles) each. Finishing third was Farmington High School with 97 laps (19.4 miles). Nonnewaug High School of Woodbury was fifth in the composite division with 61 laps (12.2 laps).

The Connecticut Electrathon program was initiated by by Mike Grella, a retired Terryville vo-tech teacher who lives in Litchfield. Mr. Grella first saw the program in Maine a decade ago. That program was for adults and “they were doing things we could never build in a high school,” he related. Nevertheless, the teacher was intrigued and brought the concept home with him.

He approached Central Connecticut State University and it indicated its willingness to participate in the program by managing events. With that promise of support, he then e-mailed every high school in the state encouraging participation in an annual competition with two meets each year-one in the fall and one in the spring.

“This is a year-long program,” he said, adding that some schools treat it as an extra-curricular activity while in others it is part of the technical education offerings. Roy Slater, tech teacher at Somers High School said, for instance, that his school has participated since 2004 and builds its car as part of an advanced Research and Development Class for seniors. Although operated out of the technical education department, students for the R&D class are drawn from all parts of the school, based on their performance.

“It is a cross-section of the school population-those excelling in math, science and technology,” Mr. Slater said, adding that a combination of students from the academics honor program who have been exposed to pre-engineering classes and those with technical skills make the best combination. There are typically 14 students in the class and this is the first year when there has not been a female student working on the car.

“It’s a high-level class,” he said. “The students are recommended by their teachers and are challenged at the highest level.”

He said the class is school sanctioned but that the students must raise the money for the production of the car. “The school underwrites the program by providing space and me,” he said, but the young people must develop the skills needed to find corporate sponsors.

“I’ve been waiting for this group for four years,” he said, as he watched his team preparing the car for its Lime Rock run. “I have watched them since they were freshmen. This program brings all their skills together.”

Because this year’s class has raised $10,000 for the project, there is enough money to branch out into other areas, Mr. Slater said. In addition to the car, the young people are working on a solar-powered car and will try to build a hovercraft.

Such innovation is at the core of the Electrathon competition Mr. Grella said. “This is not a racing event,” he clarified. “The schools are racing against time, to see how many laps they can run in one hour.” He said the use of Lime Rock Park is particularly fortunate as it provides all the necessary ingredients-elevations and right and left turns such as would be encountered in on-street driving.
“The cars are 90 percent built by the students,” he reported. “Some schools will buy a kit that provides the body and frame, but then the kids have to come up with the ideas. They design the car on a computer and have to deal with such issues as aerodynamics and resistance of the wheels. They have to learn about composites.”

He said the cars take hundreds of hours for the students to complete and often require the young people to work during the evenings and on weekends. “When we were working on cars in Terryville, we were supposed to finish at 9 p.m., but they were always trying to finish something up and we never got out before 10,” Mr. Grella said with a smile. “I usually got home about quarter to 11. They couldn’t wait to work on them.”

Beyond the academics of designing an energy-efficient car, the students also learn “life lessons,” according to Mr. Grella. He recounts the story of the construction of Terryville’s first car, which was crafted by hand out of metal. When it came time to bend the metal, the students took the pieces to a local body shop where the owner volunteered his time and equipment to help the school. “It was a life lesson [about community service],” he said, “and the kids’ first question was, ‘What can we do for him?’ So they bought him a gift certificate to a restaurant.”

“[The students] form life-long relationships,” he added. “It gives them life values.” He said that students from a decade ago still seek him out to share what they have achieved in their professions. Mr. Slater noted that two of his former students were on the field Friday helping with the 2009 Electrathon competition. The program is steadily growing and more and more schools are joining. A number of schools were at Lime Rock Friday to observe the competition in anticipation of launching their own programs. “The spring competition is much bigger,” he said. He said he would like to see schools such as New Milford enter the competition in coming years.

Electrathon Challenge brings purring race cars to Lime Rock Park Track
By Cynthia Hochswender
November 05, 2009

LIME ROCK — It was a pep rally, of sorts. Students from all over the state traveled to the race track at Lime Rock Park on Friday, Oct. 30, to take part in the autumn edition of the Connecticut Electrathon Challenge. Only 13 cars were entered this time; the big race is in spring, when about 35 of the peppy little electric cars whiz silently around the track.  Someone noted that, “If this is what the future is going to be like, it’s going to be awfully quiet.”

The cars are powered by regular car batteries, usually two. The combined weight of the batteries can’t exceed 64 pounds, according to the national Electrathon rules. Weight is an important element in this contest.

There isn’t a weight requirement for the car but there is a rule that says the driver must weigh at least 180 pounds. All of the drivers are juniors or seniors in high school, and all must be small enough to fit in the tiny cockpits of their mean machines — all of the drivers in Friday’s competition had to carry metal ballast; and when they stopped to change drivers halfway around the course, each driver had to be weighed, with ballast, immediately by race officials.

A race of ratios

One would think that there would be fierce competition among the students to get a chance behind the wheel of the car. But in fact, most teams have trouble finding someone to pilot the team vehicle. All drivers must have a valid driver’s license, and many of the team members are just old enough to have a permit.

All the participants stressed, however, that this race doesn’t really glorify the driver. The cars aren’t moving at breakneck speed; 35 mph is pretty much the maximum. And while there is some passing on the curves and in the straightaways, it’s fairly quiet and contained. There are no squealing tires in the Electrathon Challenge.

There is a great deal of discussion on the sidelines about ratios, however. This race is in many ways as much of a contest for math-letes as it is for race cars. The winning car is not necessarily the one that stays ahead of the others in the pack; it’s the car that completes the most laps around the Park’s upper auto cross .2-mile track  in the one-hour time limit.

Often, there is only one car still standing at the end of the hour. Students have to figure out how all the different parts of the car will work together to bring them a victory. A car that goes too fast, for example, can eat up all its battery power.

Slow but steady

Students from Nonnewaug High School were taking a tortoise-and-hare approach to piloting their vehicle around the track on Friday morning. James Whyte, president of the Nonnewaug Electric Car Club and a high school junior, was sanguine as his club’s diminutive racer glided around the course.

“A few other cars have passed us but we’re OK with that,” he said. “Our car can go faster, we’re pacing ourselves.”

Although Nonnewaug has not yet won an Electrathon, Whyte said his club is continually refining its vehicle, trying new motors and better body parts. In spring, the eight-year-old car lasted longer than it ever had before.

“But at 45 minutes one of the tires popped,” Whyte said. If not for that unexpected equipment failure, the car probably would have lasted 55 minutes, he said.

There were two heats, if such a word can be applied to cool little cars traveling silently along at low speed. The ultimate winner was Nathan Hale Ray High School in East Haddam. The school brought two cars; the winning vehicle went 119 laps (or 23.8 miles).

In addition to Nonnewaug, the other schools that raced were Lyme-Old Lyme High School, Somers High School, Farmington High School, Cheshire High School and Old Saybrook High School.

But in many ways, last week’s competition was really just a preliminary event, a warm-up to the big race in spring. Several schools came out on Friday just to watch, and learn. They will spend the comingmonths preparing cars of their own. No date has been set yet for the spring race, but it will be held at Lime Rock Park, which has hosted the Connecticut Electrathon since its beginning in 2001. At that race, there wil be entries from all over New England.

No local schools participate in the Electrathon, yet. Students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School are more involved in the national FIRST Robotics program and in the  environmentally oriented Envirothon.

Area private schools have come to watch the challenge, but none has brought a car.

Each student has a value

The Connecticut Electrathon is organized and managed by Mike Grella, a recently retired tech-ed teacher who taught at Terryville and lives in Litchfield. He now travels around the state, showing schools how to start an Electrathon team of their own (contact him at ths_solar_team@yahoo.com or 860-309-7954).

For Grella, the Electrathon is above all a teaching opportunity. It not only helps students understand the technology and logic of electric vehicles, which are likely to be the automotive future; it also teaches them about teamwork, respect and cooperation, he said.

Perhaps most important, it offers non-athletes an opportunity to take part in a team and take pride in their abilities, whether they are good with their hands or mathematically gifted.

“You see that each student has a value,” he said.

The cars themselves have a value, too, of course. Grella estimated that it costs about $2,000 to build a car. Part of the Electrathon challenge is that students have to raise funds for their cars; the same car can also be used year after year, although modifications are usually added by the students.

Many teams also have multiple vehicles. Of the seven schools that competed Friday, four had more than one car.

Some teams have sponsors. Nonnewaug is sponsored by EMS Pabst, a company that makes motors for industrial-sized fans. But fundraisers are still needed; most recently, the students hosted a successful videogame fundraiser.

Few of the teams come from large schools with fulsome budgets. The winning team, Nathan Hale Ray, has a population of only about 400 students.

A real electric racer

The teams at last Friday’s event got a glimpse of the future: Parked on one side of the field was a racey-looking maroon sports car, its hood and trunk open, its top down.

Lying on the grass behind the car were the electric cables used to charge up the cars batteries.

Mark Wilson of Farmington brought the vehicle so the students could see it, touch it and admire it. Wilson made his fortune in a variety of enterprises, including power plants and a chain of liquor stores. He now mainly does charitable work. Most of the time, he still drives a battered pickup truck. But on Friday, his pickup towed an electric Tesla sports car that he bought after his niece took part in the 2003 Electrathon, driving for the Farmington High School team.

The car cost him $145,000, he said.

“But it only costs me about $4 to recharge the batteries,” Wilson said. The car can travel at speeds up to 130 miles per hour (“It pins you to the back of the seat as it accelerates,” he said) but it only travels about 180 miles before it needs to be recharged. Wilson said he can only travel about 60 miles at a time (“you have to save enough power so you can get back home again”) but he doesn’t mind. He’s already ordered a Tesla sedan.

The Connecticut Electrathon Challenge is sponsored by Lime Rock Park; the Wicks Group, PLLC; the Diebold Foundation; and Central Connecticut State University. To find out when the spring event will be scheduled, visit limerock.com or contact Grella at ths_solar_team@yahoo.com.

The “60 Minutes of Lime Rock”: Nathan Hale Ray High School Wins Electrathon
November 04, 2009

It’s not the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it’s nearly as challenging… The team from Nathan Hale Ray High School in East Haddam, Conn., took the overall win in the Connecticut Electrathon race at Lime Rock Park October 30. Entered in the “Composite” category (fiberglass, wood or carbon-fiber monocoque chassis), the #X car completed 119 laps of Lime Rock’s 2/10-mile autocross test track in the allotted 1 hour, for a total of 23.8 miles.

The goal of each Connecticut Electrathon (formed in 2001 as a regional division of Electrathon America, whose purpose is “to develop a sport to improve public understanding of electric vehicles”) is to stage a twice-yearly competition where electric cars designed and built by students are driven as far as possible in exactly 1 hour’s time on a closed-loop course using limited electrical energy.

Second overall and first in the “Classic” category (metal space-frame chassis) was the #5 Lyme-Old Lyme High School vehicle, which completed 115 laps (23.0 miles). There was a tie for second place in Classic: the #395 Old Saybrook High School and the Somers High School #209 both finished with 109 laps (21.8 miles). Finishing third was the team from Farmington High School (#526, 97 laps/19.4 miles).

The Connecticut Electrathon  is sponsored by Lime Rock Park; the Wicks Group, PLLC; the Diebold Foundation; and Central Connecticut State University.

Final results, Connecticut Electrathon, October 30, 2009
Lime Rock Park autocross test circuit (5-turn, 1,056-foot track)
(Position, team and car number, town and county, laps completed/total miles)

Overall winner:
1. Nathan Hale Ray High School #X, East Haddam (Middlesex County), 119 laps/24.8 miles

Classic Category:
1. Lyme-Old Lyme High School #5, Old Lyme (New London County), 115 laps/23.0 miles
2. Old Saybrook High School #395, Old Saybrook (Middlesex County), 109/21.8
2. Somers High School #209, Somers (Tolland County), 109/21.8
3. Farmington High School #526, Farmington (Hartford County), 97/19.4
4. Nathan Hale Ray High School #537, 94/18.8
6. Lyme-Old Lyme High School #236, 89/17.8
7. Farmington High School #524, 73/14.6
8. Cheshire High School #701, Cheshire (New Haven County), 47/9.4

Composite Category:
1. Nathan Hale Ray High School #X, 119 laps/24.8 miles
2. Somers High School #009, 105/21.0
3. Somers High School #006, 73/14.6
4. Farmington High School #520, 69/13.8
5. Nonnewaug High School #665, Woodbury (Litchfield County), 61/12.2

I understand the excitement at the end of each heat, but please respect this request so that the CCSU inspection team can complete its task and ensure that all participants are treated equally.  Failure to comply could result in penalty.

I am working with Lime Rock to include the lower track to make the course ½ mile and thus accommodate additional cars in each heat.  This should keep the schedule as presented in the registration packet. 

Lime Rock is making every effort to make available the two tracks, but we must remember that they have to please their paying clients first.  When I am given additional information, I will keep everyone informed in a timely manner.

Beginning with the spring event, solar vehicles will have the opportunity to showcase their unique designs.  The solar vehicles will have to conform to Electrathon America rules and use solar panels that are resistant to impact or be protected in some manner.  Photos will have to be submitted at least two weeks prior to the event so that any safety issues can be addressed early.

There are several schools that are in the process of developing solar vehicles and we welcome their efforts and look forward to their participation.

Five streamlined electric race cars set new levels of “Extreme Efficiency” during the Electrathon National Speed Trials on October 30/31, 2006 at New Hampshire
International Speedway. Each car broke the existing record by covering more than 50 miles in one hour using less than a kilowatt/hour of electricity…. the power of a small hair dryer. Measured in automotive terms, they reached the equivalent of 1500 MPG while travelling at highway speeds.

With a field of competitors that included the fastest teams from Hawaii, the West Coast, the Midwest and New England, it is not surprising that new records were set in the High School, College and Open divisions.

Under the supervision of instructer John MacDonald, Mount Blue High School, Farmington, ME upheld their claim to the National High School division record again this year. Driver Alex Prentiss took the team to 50.15 miles in one hour.

Freshman Bradlee Meyers of Iowa Central Community College, Fort Doge, IA drove a car of his own design to a new record of 49.15 miles for the College division.

The highest speeds overall were reached in the Open division, with Team Electrolite of Portland, ME setting the pace at 53.16 miles in the hour. Crediting the extremely small and aerodynamic design of his vehicle, driver Michael Lewis was able to accomplish this with a mere 952.8 amp/hours.

Tension was high as all the teams knew that everything had to be done perfectly to achieve this level of performance – months of effort went into the design and construction of these exotic machines. In a style referred to as ‘passive-aggressive’, the drivers wrestled the highest possible speed from the lowest possible effort.

Electrathon is a national competition for lightweight, high efficiency electric vehicles. Power is limited to 67 lbs. of production lead acid batteries, which amounts to a little more than one horsepower over the hour. The rules are simple enough to allow a wide variety of creative designs, and although it’s open to everyone, most of the competitors are school teams because the sport offers an affordable test of imagination, skill, discipline and teamwork.

And, striving to foster an ethic of efficiency, it promotes the development of alternative energy transportation in compelling style.

The National Speed Trials are supported by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Energy Education Program, Patrons Oxford Insurance, Chewonki Pathways, and the many schools, businesses and organizations that support Electrathon teams across the country, and are made possible by the owners and staff of New Hampshire International Speedway.

contact: Michael Lewis, Portland, ME
cmlewis@maine.rr.com 207-773-3006
photos and complete results available on request
or Peter Zack meep@psouth.net 207-625-7833
more info at: www.electrathonnewengland.org and www.electrathonamerica.org