Kennedy High School Electric Car Team Racing To Nationals

Kennedy High School's Cougar Electric Car Company will travel to Kansas City to represent Iowa in the national race this month. The team earned the opportunity after winning state championships in Iowa and Michigan during the 2010 racing season.

In September, the Marshalltown International Raceway was transformed into the Midwest Alternative Energy Challenge for the state high school competition. Electric cars, designed and built by students from Iowa and Minnesota, were on the track. Students drove their cars at speeds of up to 40 M.P.H. on the twisting, half-mile track. Kennedy teams finished first, third, and fourth. Kennedy also won the Michigan State Championship in May. It was the first time a non-Michigan school has ever won the championship.

“Electric car competition focuses on designing, building, and racing a single-person, lightweight, aerodynamic, high-efficiency electric vehicle,” explained Barry Wilson, Kennedy program advisor. “The cars are powered by two seated lead-acid batteries weighing no more than 67 pounds. The objective is to drive these vehicles as far as possible for one hour using limited electrical energy.”

The Kennedy Cougar Electric Car Company was created in 1997 as a way to challenge the students and give them one more opportunity to have hands-on experience at mechanics and problem solving.

“It teaches teamwork, goal setting, responsibility, reliability, and seeing a job through to the end,” Wilson said. “Businesses are seeking people who have ‘soft skills' in addition to other skills. The soft skills are again teamwork, goal setting, and reliability.”

Time management is also a key skill. The cars must be designed and built in time for the spring racing season. In addition, students must also find sponsors to offset the cost of building the car and traveling to the competitions.

“Students sometimes spend evenings and weekends working together on the cars,” Wilson noted. “It is essential that they get a design in place by winter break if they are to meet the spring racing circuit deadlines.”

A typical day of racing activity competition includes safety inspections, two one-hour heats, and an awards ceremony for both the day's event and the overall results for the season.