Seniors Isaac, Chris, Mackenzie, and Harley all leave the EV nest at once...leaving behind a great hole in all our hearts, shop and vehicles.  
Awards:
Chris was a senior who was always present from start to finish. This student never backed down from a challenging task and actually welcomed it.  From trailer wiring to our most challenging battery system to date.. He never wavered spending 195 hours outside of class time.  The “Boulder” award goes out to Chris.
 
Harley has been with the team his entire high school career.  He was always most supportive and eager to help do anything. Most memorable phrase, “What do you need me to do?”  While returning from a competition at Appstate this particular student learned a most memorable lesson with Newton’s first law of motion.  This particular student had settled down in the rear of the bus with a huge gulp drink, sandwich and chips from an earlier lunch he didn’t eat.  The access road leaving the parking lot had a speed bump that was labeled with signs and painted lines. This was not the issue. The issue was just around the corner where an unmarked speed bump was located.   When I realized the bump was upon us I said, “SPEED BUMP” and from the corner of my eye in the rear view mirror I saw in slow motion a drink floating in the air that transitioned into a soft drink rain.Sometimes you just never know what engineering lesson is around the next corner.   The “Speed Bump” award goes out to Harley.
Mackenzie defines coming full circle in more ways than one.  The first experience in the miata we call Opportunity was to make a racing seat with a 5 point harness slide forward so the pedals could be reached by more drivers.  Her last experience in Opportunity demonstrated an exciting way to pick flower petals….which involved a kind of circle in the infield grass... Mackenzie has written hundreds of personal thank you cards to sponsors and volunteers, wired our first battery management system, and spent 288 hours outside of class on numerous EV opportunities.  The “Flower Girl Award” and $500 EV Scholarship goes out to Mackenzie.

Isaac has been devising plans to improve the EV program since open house his freshman year.  Isaac always displayed the utmost maturity in all projects and has stood out as a leader since his freshman year.  During our yearly opening parent night I introduce to the team their “experience” bank account. This account is one they are in charge of accumulating and managing while on the team.  The more experiences they acquire, the more skills they master. While spending nearly 1000 EV hours after school over the course of his high school career this student has mastered rebuilding and modifying every mechanical system in the miata, car hauler, golf cart, cushman, solar panels and rc cars.  I seriously could not think of any system untouched by this student. The “Big Chief” award and $1850 EV scholarship goes out to Isaac.

Josh is the first to finish a challenging 3ds max digital model portfolio poster after 3 weeks of hard work.  The portfolio consists of 60 different models each student must create from scratch.  Josh finished 3 days plus a weekend ahead of second place finisher.  Way to go Josh!  You are awesome!

2nd Place Bjorn, 3rd Place McGuire

Students will now march as far as possible into rendering and animations until final exams.  
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Technology Engineering and Design Students are working extremely hard to get Legend Cars built, tested and raced before final exam review...Will they succeed? Follow us here and see....

An awesome opportunity provided by being on the EV team is being able to give students from APP a tour of our facility each semester. Mr. Tolbert's ASU design class visited to tour the shop, ride in the cars and learn more about what we do. The team presented the Mazda Miata (Opportunity), Google Gravity Games Cars, Wilkes Communications kit-car, Hawkette kit-car, Charlie's engineering car, and STEM Cycle (Hawk 1).  EV experiences were shared from both the high school and collegiate perspectives.  Presenting to ASU students that know more about what we do and why (than the general population) is a great learning experience.  Mr. Mule and his friends topped off the night with a 3 play showing of 3 different Teslas.  Thank You Mr. Mule!    

The harder we attempted to defend our 1st place finish from last year the more challenges we faced.  Beginning from Ryan's mold fail experience that created a last minute shuffle of vehicles and drivers a week before the event to a challenging last minute scramble to cure a brake fail during scrutineering.  
EV team enters 4 different vehicles this year  and brings home two 4th place positions, and two 8th place positions.  Strong competition along with grand challenges creates the perfect environment for an unforgettable learning experience.  So what does the EV Team do after the last EVent of the year?  Plan for next year's vehicle improvements and shopping for tools to do the job.   

Check it out here on Inside EVS

Despite the title, Mondays for the team are not actually madness. Sometimes chaotic but not madness. As we met this afternoon and into the evening, we all prepared for our next competition: Google Gravity Games 2018! 

Sweet, sweet victory! The team celebrates not one but two 1st Place victories in both Conversion and STEM Cycle divisions. 
None of this could have ever been accomplished or achieved without the whole team's efforts. After all, there is no I in team. On the first day, Topsail's conversion, a Mazda Miata, suffered some motor troubles. Our team did everything in our power to assist them in dropping the motor and repairing to get their vehicle into shape to race us the next day, due to a prior experience, extremely similar. The team never fails to encourage each other before events or even to try new experiences. 

Visit Perry's for all your automotive needs!

More tires and repair were needed on our travel vehicles before we could carry the team and equipment to the EV Challenge.  Perry's crew worked after hours to resolve all the issues.  We are so very thankful for their support and extra efforts.  We highly encourage you to consider them for all your service needs.

The EV family would like to thank Perry's Service Center for hooking us up with much needed maintenance on our trailer. In addition, two trailer tires were donated! We are extremely grateful for Perry's keeping us in tip top shape as we are preparing to travel to competition.
For any automotive needs Perry's Service Center is the place to go!
You can find them on Facebook... check them out. 

Super Shop Monday accomplishes many tasks including writing to President Trump, 18650 Battery Balancing, Leaf battery resurrection, and  fabrication of our Google Gravity Games engineered chassis mold.  EV Challenge in 10 Days!

Church leads the way and boils water first.  His design demonstrates a superior build quality over any stoves built in the past.  Amazing work but he is not finished.  His stove took 15 mins to boil water.  Gabe had the fastest stove of the day at 8 minutes.   Increased air and fuel flow should do the trick.  Engineering problem solving continues.   

Justin was an awesome designer of miata conversion parts.  His custom motor mount is still in the heart of the miata and working great.  In 2007 he simulated motor torque loads and applied a 4x factor of safety on the design.  Thanks to Justin we should be good to about 2000 ft-lbs of torque ;o).  He was a very skilled driver as well.  His most notable win was not recorded officially due to a competitor's spin out but unofficially he drove the lead powered ford ranger to victory over all conversions (truck and car) at Northampton's home track shortly before the school closed.  Justin's cool attitude and dedication was a blessing to us all.  Tolbert's most proud moment was seeing Justin play Jesus, the leading role in The Passion Play at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.  He nailed it!

Coleman returns to help machine some steering parts for gravity racers and offers a brainstorming hand in developing foot steering dampers.  He plans to return later this week to offer help.  Thanks Coleman!

The team makes progress on Hawk 2, perfecting every detail on design. Chris designed a battery pack, efficient for both Hawk 1 and Hawk 2. Andrew cuts the chassis rib for his Google Gravity Games car.

Testing will begin soon as weather clears.  The goal is to build the most efficient stove using scratch fuel while producing the least amount of smoke.  Over half the world's population cook using this method.  Indoor air quality due to cooking in these regions has been labeled as the second leading cause of death/disease among children.  Students will appreciate the art and engineering that goes into combustion from stoves to engines.  

Students are super excited to be designing, building, engineering and racing these USA made Legend car kits.  From our experience they are the most robust vehicle designs that students build from scratch while learning all the principles of electricity, motor design, gearing, suspension, drivetrain, differentials, controls, and the art of speed.  Thank You RJ Speed!

"But all of this success hasn’t come easy, as Team Sunergy has worked tirelessly to make a name for itself since the project’s inception in 2013, beginning in the classroom of adjunct instructor of technology education at App State, Chris Tolbert."
Visit link to read more on the history of how Appstate Solar Team began from our WWHS EV Team vision.   Moutain Times.com Article

Appstate Solar Vehicle Team 
Solar Vehicle Team Website

Back breaking labor of processing inventory, bushing installation, gluing a chassis, and wiring of Tesla batteries.