Taupo¯ students powering to nationals
Groups of Year 12 and 13 students from Tauhara College and Taupo¯ nui-a-Tia College put months of hard work on the line last weekend, to compete in the EVolocity Waikato regional final in Hamilton.
The event, at Kartsport south of Hamilton, saw dozens of student-designed electric vehicles go head-to-head in a series of competitions.
Tauhara College’s entry is a Superbike, built by six students under the guidance of their engineering teacher John Sullivan.
‘‘The students got a real buzz out of the project,’’ said Sullivan.
‘‘They spent their lunch breaks and after school together, building an electric vehicle. It began as an idea and has evolved into a three-dimensional electric bike which goes, and that’s pretty cool.’’
Last year Tauhara College won the regional category for their Burt Monroe Indian-inspired electric-powered bike.
Sullivan said ’’this year’s bike has been developed to have a higher centre of gravity and more manoeuvreability, which was something lacking last year, and testing shows it is going at 34 km per hour, and it will go faster.’’
EVolocity is a programme which aims to encourage and inspire high school students to take an interest in engineering and technology in a fun, innovative way.
There are two categories in the EVolocity programme, twowheeled electric vehicles and an electric vehicle with three or more wheels.
Taupo¯ -nui-a-Tia’s team of three year 13 boys entered a three wheel bike, making several drafts and a complete rebuild before being happy with the final product.
The team said if you aren’t making mistakes you aren’t learning, and that is what they enjoyed.
Both teams were made up of different strengths and specialising in different areas which play to their advantages.
Tauhara College took home best Slalom/street circuit, best rolling resistance, best community awareness [facebook likes], best custom controller [Best Bike], best data collection and Innovation.
Taupo¯ -nui-a-Tia College came first in the drag race, rolling resistance and street circuit.
These results will see both schools going to the Christchurch Nationals in the beginning of December.