High School Most Efficient Electric Car
A team of high school students at the DeLaSalle School in the USA has developed what is claimed to be the most energy-efficient electric car in the world. It manages the equivalent of 300 miles per gallon, and the school has applied for it to be recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records.
The car is built on the chassis of a 2000 Lola Indy, an F1-style racing car. However, it's been extensively customised with an ultra-light-weight frame and a see-through plastic body. The wheels are provided by Bridgestone and are the company's Ecopia EP100 model, which increase fuel efficiency by avoiding rolling resistance.
The students also customised the innards of the car, fabricating an all-electric power train to minimise energy loss, and making a series of other tweaks to get the fuel efficiency as high as possible. Although it's not exactly a mass-production model, the students hope that the car inspires others to work on the fuel efficiency of more consumer-targeted electric cars.
While such cars are often thought of as "greener" than petrol-fuelled machines, their environmental credentials depend very much on where the electricity is coming from. If it's coming from a coal-fired power plant on the opposite side of the country, then the overall carbon savings can be minimal.
