Engineering students build electric vehicle from scratch

What started off as an idea quickly turned into a reality for Ron Grew, lab supervisor for the School of Engineering.

photo by Elizabeth Lienau

The Electric Car Club meets weekly in the Keller Engineering Labs
to convert a standard-combustion car into a battery-powered electric vehicle.

Last year, Grew donated his 1999 Subaru Outback to the engineering school after learning a group of students were looking for a new project. “My Outback was dying and I always thought it would be a fun and unique experience to build an electric car,” he said.

A group of about 20 students formed the Electric Car Club and immediately began researching ways to convert a traditional, standard-combustion car into a battery-powered electric vehicle. The group continues to meet weekly to research what engine parts are needed and determine the next steps for the conversion.

Our first goal is to get the car to start, said Andrew Twining, senior mechanical engineering student and club president. “There isn’t a specific manual on how to convert a 1999 Outback into an electric car, but there are general manuals out there,” he said. ”We had to train on a variety of machines to learn how to create the parts and pieces for the new engine.”

Twining said the second goal is to provide students with an opportunity to develop new skills, including how to take a problem with no definitive solution and make a solution. “This is what happens in the real world. You have to find a solution, but this is so open-ended and students can take their imaginations and run wild,” he said.

Twining said the project won’t end when the engine starts. “There will always be things we can improve on, and that’s the beauty of the project,” he said. “Next year, the new president of the club may decide to redo the suspension or battery mounts.”

Grew said students hope the car will be running by August, when they unveil it at the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing Design Day and Conference.

“Trying is the whole purpose of what we’re doing,” said Twining. “No one cares if it works or if it doesn’t work, as long as we’re trying to figure out better ways to do things.”