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Two teams of six from Horizon School each entered a recycled electric vehicle (EV) into the EVolocity Auckland Regional Finals held at Whenuapai Airforce Base in Auckland last month, with one of them pulling off a, well, shock win.
The event marked the culmination of the year-long EVolocity programme, which is available to schools throughout New Zealand and asks teams to design and build an EV.
EVolocity, a charitable organisation that promotes sustainable engineering, gives each team an electric motor kit, some guidelines to follow, and runs workshops throughout the year, but everything else is up to the students.
The Horizon team that finished first overall competed in their three-wheeler kart Horizon Classics against schools from around Auckland in a variety of events, including drag races, slalom and endurance/efficiency.
Their Horizon stablemates entered a similar kart called Volt Velocity, which was also competitive but had high energy readings, which saw them finish further back.
Horizon School physics and mathematics teacher Roushan Johnson, who helped guide the Year 11 and 12 students through the build process during the year, says they were the underdogs and not expecting to win.
“None of us thought we’d win the regionals. It was incredible, the kids were ecstatic.
“Some of them even thought it was more about participation, we’d get to see what it was like and then try again,” Johnson says.
What makes the result even more remarkable is this was Horizon’s first year in the EVolocity programme and its teams had a tiny budget and fewer resources than some of the other schools, not to mention zero sponsorship.
Johnson says it’s very easy to spend “four or five grand” on a kart and that one of the school’s he spoke to had spent $10,000.
“We’re a very small school, with less than 300 students. We had no money, and no backing. We reached out to sponsors, but had no luck whatsoever.”
This meant the students had to salvage materials, find ways to fundraise, and come up with innovative designs that were cost effective.
“At first, they wanted to build a full-blown four-wheeler, then realised four wheels was too complicated and very expensive. So they went with one wheel at the back with two in the front to provide more balance and better steering.
“A lot of the materials used was recycled scrap that the students got from Northland Waste’s Warkworth Re:Sort transfer station. They grabbed whatever they could find – a couple of old bikes, a wheelchair and even an ironing board.”
All up, each Horizon EV only cost around $200 to build.
Following the regionals, Horizon’s two karts were put on display at the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland for one day as part of its STEM Fair (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Johnson says the school will definitely be participating in the EVolocity programme in 2025.
EVolocity
EVolocity is an electric vehicle (EV) programme that asks teams to design, build and race an EV. It aims to promote sustainable engineering and is available to intermediate and secondary schools, either as part of the curriculum or as an extra-curricular project.
