Competition is electric at SMART Challenge
by Dave Morris · May 14, 2008

With gas prices high and going higher, the timing couldn’t be better for a group of Mount Vernon High School students to be perfecting an electric-powered car.

Five of the 20 students who have helped convert a 1988 Pontiac Fiero from a gas-powered to battery-powered vehicle are on their way to the SMARTT Challenge in North Carolina to compete this weekend against about 30 other high school teams. SMARTT stands for Students Making Advancements in Renewable Transportation Technology.

The idea to form a group to compete came after the school received a science grant and senior Jon Peiffer became aware of the electric car competition. Math teacher Mary Young became the group’s advisor and, after working intensely to get administrative approval, the students were off and running. MVHS is the only high school in Iowa attending this competition.

The school provided the workspace. “They were very supportive,” Young said.

“I just see this as a great thing for kids to be doing,” she added. “My job is chief cheerleader.”

The competition is about much more than auto mechanics.

“Fifty percent of the competition is non-technical,” senior Garrett Golberg said. “A lot of people don’t realize that.”

The other 50 percent involves the technical challenges.

The first day of the competition consists of an oral presentation, answering questions in a trouble-shooting event, and getting out and driving in the range event. Russell Riechers and Golberg are to be the drivers. On Saturday, an autocross event tests skill and performance.

In addition to Peiffer, Riechers and Golberg, students Jordan Davidson and Andy Gael are taking part in the North Carolina competition. Accompanying the students will be Orville Peiffer, Scott Golberg and Dean McCall.

Jared Dye has helped on the business side and with public relations. Nikki Ciha has worked on the website created by the group, www.mvevcar.com.

Other teachers providing assistance include Lori Merlak, Laurie Zaiger and Russ Bush.

The car was purchased last November from K’s Acres in Cedar Rapids. It is powered by 12 8-volt lead acid batteries. Top speed is 60 mph and the car’s range is about 50 miles. It took more than 2,000 hours of work to complete the conversion to battery power.

“There’s a lot of sweat equity involved,” Young said.

After pulling out the engine, “we rebuilt everything,” Jon Peiffer said.

The students are quick to acknowledge that it took the support of the community to pull off this project.

“The community has been a big help with funding,” Peiffer said. Lead sponsor was Central Iowa Power Cooperative, where Jon’s father, Orville, is employed. CIPCO donated $8,000. Additional funding and assistance came from Lynch Ford Chevrolet Pontiac, Gary’s Foods, B4 Brands, Mount Vernon Bank and Trust, Bridge Community Bank, Hills Bank and Trust, Collins Road Tire, Mount Vernon Lions Club, Dean McCall, Denny Becker, Larry Johnson, Nelson Electric and other local service clubs and organizations. McCall volunteered to transport it to North Carolina in a trailer while the students and adults travel in a van.

In addition to Orville Peiffer and McCall, parents Scott Golberg and Mark White have been closely involved in the project. Grant Golberg has been helping as well.

“I’ve been impressed by the resourcefulness of the kids,” Scott Golberg said. “It’s amazing how everyone’s skills have complemented each other’s.”

Mark White, whose children Katie and Matt are involved in the project but not going to the competition, noted: “I just think it’s amazing that they came up with the idea and followed through to the end.”

For now, the group is a student organization, but Young and the students would like to see it be a class at some point.

The work has been equal to if not more than a class, the students said.

“The learning has been exponential,” Young said.

Several of the seniors involved said that the project either reflected or spurred their interest in a career in a related field.

“I could see designing hybrid vehicles for the rest of my life,” Golberg said. He plans to attend Penn State University in the fall.

Peiffer plans to attend Purdue University to study electrical engineering and possibly work with fuel cells in the future. Dye plans to study biology when he goes to Grinnell College in the fall, and Riechers plans to pursue international studies at American University.

It’s the wide-ranging scope of the project that has been appealing both to the school and the students.

“The project incorporates that Renaissance-man, liberal arts approach,” said Young.