Middle school students from seven area schools tested solar and battery-powered cars at an inaugural time trials event Saturday, hosted by the Platte River Power Authority.
Teams from each school — adopting team names like “Nitro Kitty,” “The Odd Ones” and the “Swoopty Swoops” — loaded hand-crafted cars onto a 20-meter track at Walt Clark Middle School for a chance to officially test their designs and see if they have what it takes to compete at the state level.
Platte River Power Authority manager of marketing and communications Steve Roalstad said he hopes the event will happen every year, and that more and more Northern Colorado schools opt to make teams and vie for a place in the 28-year-running Junior Solar Sprint and Electric Battery Car Competition, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
This year’s state competition will be held at Dakota Ridge High School in Jefferson County on May 4.
Saturday morning came with a few inches of snow from the previous night, and temps just above freezing. Nonetheless, students tinkered with their cars, discussing how components — like lithium ion batteries — didn’t agree with the cold. Battery cars entered the first heats, with solar cars taking the track closer to noon, when the sun peeked through the clouds.
Compass Community Collaborative School student Nathan Miller said in his shorts and tie-dye T-shirt that though it was chilly, it was worth it to race.
“I’m staying warm,” he said.
Tweaking his car, High Plains K-8 student Ethan Willits said that while solar-powered cars struggled under Saturday’s overcast sky, his team’s battery-powered car was burning up the track.
“We’re just trying to get it to go straight now,” Willits said, noting that teams on both sides of the track would need to keep the fishing line tight.
Roalstad said each team receives kits that include wheels, axles, gears, a wood block and either batteries or a solar panel. The rest, he said, is up to the students.
That means some cars went down the track Saturday with googly -eyes, pompoms, stickers and sequins mounted to a variety of differing frame and wheel designs. Each car used a length of taut fishing line to navigate from one side of the track to the other.
And if decor alone didn’t boost the cars down the track, pure science did.
“Watching the problem-solving skills is amazing,” Roalstad said, watching students discuss bearings, tread and stability issues with excitement only a middle-schooler could summon.
He noted the reasoning behind Platte River Power Authority’s decision to host and sponsor the event.
“This gives students a chance to test our their cars against others,” he said.
Other reasons, he said, were “shamelessly selfish,” as the event was an opportunity to connect with PRPA’s four communities: Loveland, Longmont, Fort Collins and Estes Park, he told the crowd of about 100 parents, teachers and students huddled up next to the race course.
He also said the average age of Platte River’s staff is around 50, meaning spots for new brains will open up soon, right around the time middle school students will be leaving college and trade schools
“We’ll be looking them up later,” Roalstad said. “We want them to remember us.”
Hans Peter: 970-635-3630, hpeter@prairiemountainmedia.com
