5/15/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Elizabeth Plasket, energy educator, UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education, (319) 273-6012
Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa and Alliant Energy will co-host the country's largest competitive electrathon from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat., May 19, at the Capitol complex in Des Moines. Participating will be 350 students from Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, with others expected from Kansas and Nebraska.
Through this event, high school teams build and race one-person electric cars around the Capitol area. Students at the participating high schools spend the school year building and testing their cars. In addition, each team must raise funds, obtain donated equipment, handle a range of public relations tasks and prepare monthly progress reports.
The cars are limited to a battery capacity of 64 pounds of standard lead acid batteries. Rules for building are established by Electrathon America, a national electric vehicle organization established in the late '80s.
"This program provides a way for high school students to gain engineering and financial skills, while building a zero-emissions vehicle," explained Elizabeth Plasket, energy educator at UNI's Center for Energy and Environmental Education and manager of the Iowa Electrathon Program. "Hybrid vehicles are already on the market, and zero-emission vehicles are close behind. We are training the engineers who will build those kinds of vehicles."
UNI co-sponsors the Iowa Electrathon with Alliant Energy. There is no charge to attend the electrathon.
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