MINDDRIVE students in electric car stop in Tucson tomorrow | Environment

This is certainly an inspirational story – an all electric plug-in vehicle built and driven by at risk high school students from Missouri. 

There is more to the story, these students, from Kansas City, Missouri are from the program MINDDRIVE and they are driving their all electric vehicle from San Diego, California to Jacksonville, Florida - with a quick stop here in Tucson, tomorrow to share their experiences so far.

“We invite anyone interested in electric vehicle technology to stop by and see what level of accomplishment the students from Kansas City have achieved,” said Colleen Crowninshield, manager of Tucson Clean Cities, a program of Pima Association of Governments. “As electric vehicle technology evolves, it is inspiring to see the innovation and vision that can be generated in our nation by our youth to help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

MINDDRIVE will be arriving by 4 p.m. tomorrow and will be setting up their car for display at the Firestone Complete Auto Care, they will be there until 6 p.m.  The students and officials with the program will be available for questions, about both the vehicle and their involvement in the program.

An educational program, MINDDRIVE uses experiential methods to teach at-risk youth (in urban high schools) automotive design and contemporary communication classes with hands on work.  Each class builds a prototype ultra, high-efficiency alternative fuel, plug-in electric vehicles, that are designed to be extremely efficient.

“The mission of MINDDRIVE is to inspire at-risk teens to want to learn, expand their vision of their futures, and to have a positive influence on urban workforce development,” said MINDDRIVE CEO Steve Rees.

The MINDDRIVE class from Missouri anticipates their vehicle(a 1977 Lotus Espirit) to get between 300-440 miles per charge. Here are a few details about the car itself:

• Body: 1977 Lotus
• Power Plant:  a 7 inch direct current motor, generating approximately 12 hp
• Batteries:  30, 3.2 volt, 180 amp-hour lithium ion batteries, wired in series to produce 96 total volts.
• Controller:  from Kelley Electric of China, which will control acceleration and usage of electricity.
• Charging:  the car will be charged in approximately one hour by a stand along 220 volt generator.

WHEN:  June 12 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

WHERE:  Firestone Complete Auto Care (209 N. Wetmore)

For more information about MINDDRIVE please visit the website at www.minddrive.org.