top of page

ELECTRATHON VEHICLES INFORMATION

How are electrathon vehicles used?

 

Electrathon vehicle are raced to see which vehicles can travel the farthest in one hour. These vehicles are powered by just 73 pounds of standard lead acid batteries and race on courses from road courses with tight corners and hills to a mile long NASCAR style ovals. These races challenge teams to design a lightweight and efficient vehicle and then drive it to perfection so as not to waste energy. There are adult and high school divisions. Races occur across the nation and throughout the world. The national record is traveling over 62 miles in one hour, which has the energy equivalent of going 2,370 miles on a gallon of gas!

What do high school students gain?

 

Students learn to think, reason, and problem-solve as they design, construct, test, improve, and maintain their team's vehicle. In this process students learn different aspects of engineering, drafting, welding, machining, foundry, electronics, painting, maintaining records, and how to productively work as part of a team. Students also learn to contact businesses to seek technical advice, materials, and crucial donations.  Willamette's students design and construct every component possible while some school purchase nearly completed vehicles.

What local schools are involved with building these vehicles?

 

This year there are about 25 high schools in Oregon and southwest Washington, which have registered nearly 70 vehicles. Willamette High built 24 of these vehicles in one year, but only plans on 14 new cars this year, plus 4 of our older cars. We were told that this is still the largest fleet in the world. Other Lane County  Schools involved are Springfield, Thurston, Monroe, Mapleton and West Lane Tech (from Elmira). Most schools across the state only build and maintain one car. The next largest Oregon team has six vehicles.

What Willamette High course teaches these skills?

 

At Willamette High School we build these in a class called "Industry and Engineering Systems Pathway."  This course is part of the educational restructuring that Oregon is using to make education more relevant to our students.  This is a two year course that students take in their junior and senior years.

How many years are these vehicles used?

 

Most schools race the same vehicle year after year and try to fine-tune them more each year since most vehicles are best after about 3 years of racing. At Willamette we scrap the frames and all other student-built items each year.  Because of this, all of our students design and build brand new vehicles each year. By doing so, we feel that the students learn much more. 

How can the Bethel School District afford these projects?

 

Each vehicle is an investment of about $2,000, which is why we reuse all of the purchased items for as many years as possible. Students and staff in this PATHWAY do a large number of fund-raisers, write grants, and seek donations and financial assistance from many sources. Each new year seems to be an expansion year for us. Over the last 17 years we grew from 17 students to 100+ students and from 5 vehicles to as many as 24 . This means a large cash outlay.  We earned well over $20,000 last year with our fundraising efforts. $12,000 of this came in the form of an Energy Education grant from EWEB, which makes grants to school districts to teach about water and energy use and conservation.

What is "Industry and Engineering Systems Pathway"?

 

There are six main PATHWAY areas, or strands, depending on the student's job career path choice. These are in Health, Business, Natural Resources, Arts and Communication, Human Resources, and (of course) Industry and Engineering. This pathway is for any student who thinks they may want to:

  1) Attend a four year college and earn a degree in a field like engineering, architecture, teaching in a related field, or working as a manager in a related industry.

  2) Attend a community college or trade school and go into fields such as electronics, carpentry, mechanics, drafting, surveying, most technicians, or fabrication like welding or machinist.

  3) Go straight into the job market in a field such as painting, construction labor, farm labor, service station attendant, machine operator, or assembly line worker.

What do students in the Industry and Engineering Pathway do and learn?

In the pathway course itself students are in a three-hour block every other day. Juniors begin by doing several small projects such as designing, building and racing model magnetic levitation vehicles and solar vehicles. They also make scale models of their Electrathon vehicles. Students learn things like basic metalworking and electronics. Small student teams of 3 to 6 design and construct their own Electrathon vehicles. Other projects focus on the individual student's future plans. These are items such as specific internships and construction trade projects. Students help the district by building items and making repairs, which saves district expenses. Races for Electrathon vehicles start in March and run through September. Both years students also do career exploration to learn what the related careers are like. 

In the first semester of their senior year, student teams again design, build, and get ready to race another Electrathon vehicle, do extended career exploration, and engage in several small projects to further their hands-on skills. In the student's final semester they choose a senior project of individual interest. Examples of past projects are converting a Volkswagen Rabbit, and S-10 pickup, an off road quad, and a motorcycle all to electric vehicles; designing, bidding for the job, and constructing a deck as if they were contractors; doing an internship or entering an apprentice program in their chosen field; the design and construction of an ultra-light airplane; various bicycles; as well as items like benches and tables, roll-bars and bumpers for trucks; barbeque pits; and various metal projects and artwork.

 

Futures for our students

 

Every year we have past students that graduate as engineers. We also have a number of students who have become certified as welders and machinists. Others have gone to work in various manufacturing fields like at Bike Friday, Western Pneumatics, Coyote Steel, etc. A number of other students have decided to go into construction or mechanics areas as well. There are of course some students that decide that this is not what they want to do for the rest of their lives and pursue totally different paths.

bottom of page