Kennesaw State University’s Electric Vehicle Team took home first place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Competition evGrand Prix.
KSU’s EVT went head to head with 20 other cars representing universities from several countries. The competition is open to any university that builds an electric go-kart that meets the qualification standards. Once teams pay an entry fee and pass tech inspection, they become qualified to compete in the race.
“It’s relatively new, started in 2011 by a federal grant that was given to Purdue, Norte Dame and Northwestern,” Tyler Rowan, Electrical Team Lead, said. “They started this evGrand Prix for electrical vehicles to give students very practical experience.”
KSU was the only team from the south in attendance, along with Purdue, the University of Oklahoma, Northwestern and the University of Windsor, a Canadian team. There was no special invitation sent out because the competition wanted to bring in as many universities as possible.
The EVT starts with the design process in the fall in addition to making the parts and design software. When the spring semester rolls around in March, they start building. They have from March through the beginning of May to build their go-kart.
KSU’s EVT is made up of 40 to 45 members. The team responsibilities are broken down by major, and its two main groups are mechanical engineering and electrical.
The mechanical engineering students focus on the welding of the chassis, mounting the motor on the go-kart and any mechanical parts that need to be done. The electrical team focuses on the batteries, electronics and programming.
“We also have business and marketing students as well that help with the presentation part,” Rowan said. “They help organize all the information and data to be presented to the judges.”
The teams are judged the day before the race on engineering and the overall design of their go-kart. Then, they compete on the track for first place.
“Outside of the go-kart event, we are looking to recruit all majors, not just engineering,” Rowan said.
The EVT is currently focused on finishing an electric formula car that they are building. They will compete at the Formula SAE Electric in an electric race event in Lincoln, Nebraska June 16, 2016. Formula SAE Electric was created by engineers in the automative industry for college students from all over to compete.
“We are going up against everyone from Yale to Georgia Tech, huge schools,” Rowan said. “Forty different teams will be there.”