PROVO -- Tom Erekson sees freeways of the future filled with electric, battery-powered automobiles.
The technology has already arrived to make that possible, says Erekson, director of Brigham Young University's School of Technology. His students are helping develop electric-powered vehicles."The students are very motivated," Erekson said. "They are actually testing new technology that will likely be in your car and in my car in the near future. We're definitely going to have electric cars. We need alternative fuels."
As part of their research, BYU engineering and technology students refurbished an electric automobile they have dubbed "Electric Blue," an Indy-style, battery-powered, 2,750-pound race car. It's been freshly painted -- BYU blue, of course -- complete with the school logo.
This weekend, they will enter their Formula Lightning model racer in a university competition in Tustin, Calif. Because a special license is required to drive the electric vehicle, a 19-year-old professional driver who attends a junior college in California will be behind the wheel for the 30-mile race.
Eight BYU students will act as the pit crew that will have to change the car's 28 lead-acid batteries (weighing a total of more than 1,200 pounds) every 12-14 miles during the race. The crew must change the batteries in less than 20 seconds to be competitive, Erekson said.
Electric Blue reaches speeds of 120 miles per hour and, because it does not have an internal combustion engine, rides quietly. "It's like driving a big go-cart," Erekson said.
Tuesday, his students gathered at the Thunder Mountain Raceway in Springville to observe a road test of the car by a professional driver and practice their battery-changing skills. They departed Wednesday for Tustin, where qualifying races will be held Friday and Saturday.
The final race will be held on Sunday, but since BYU students aren't allowed to participate in sporting or academic events on that day, Electric Blue won't have the opportunity to win the competition. From now on, however, the event won't be scheduled on Sunday, Erekson said.
BYU's goal is to learn from other schools and apply that knowledge to future races. Following this competition, students plan to redesign the car. "Within a few years we hope to have the best car on the track," Erekson said.
This collegiate race has been held yearly since 1994, but it will be a first for BYU students. The competition is a way to test as well as trumpet this electric technology. "We're demonstrating that electric cars are powerful," Erekson said.
Erekson, who used to teach at Bowling Green University in Ohio, is in his first year at BYU. He brought the components of Bowling Green's old car with him. Students installed a chassis that every school participating in the race received from a racing company in Phoenix, Ariz. They also built battery boxes, prepared the body and made numerous improvements to the vehicle.
"The students have done a great job getting BYU's car ready for competition," Erekson said. "They've had to take precise measurements, analyze mathematical data and make important adjustments to the car so it performs exactly the way our driver wants it to."
"It's been great to see this technology evolving," said Chris Hartley, an engineering student and member of the Electric Blue Racing Team. "I've learned a lot about electric cars."
Experimentation with electric automobiles is not exactly new. The U.S. Department of Energy and environmental regulators around the nation possess a keen interest in electric car technology and have been promoting and monitoring its developments. A few years ago, BYU students and faculty converted a Ford Festiva from an internal combustion engine-powered car into an electric car.
All the major auto makers are researching and exploring options with electric cars, Erekson said. Some have even produced hybrid electric vehicles. Legislators in California, meanwhile, have mandated the sale of zero-emission cars over the next several years as a way to reduce air pollution.
What's holding back mass production of these cars is battery technology -- it is expensive and not as convenient as, say, merely stopping at a gas station. Batteries are $25 apiece and to recharge them it takes three hours and costs 8 1/2 cents per kilowatt hour. "Once the battery problem is solved and mass produced, costs will go down," Erekson said.
Yet there's a big upside to electric automobiles, students say. "They are a lot more efficient than gas-powered cars," said Todd Rogers, another member of the racing squad.
And the fact they would curtail noise pollution is a plus, too. "I would like to see technology go this way -- it doesn't make noise or cause air pollution," Hartley said. "The batteries are recyclable and environmentally friendly. I'd like to see these cars as a possibility in the future."