Piecing Together Technology
Students Learn to Build Electric Vehicles
The students in Friday Harbor High School’s EV Principles STEM class have been busy turning wrenches on a hands-on project. Since October, the students—under the guidance of their teacher, Sam Garson—have been building a fully operational electric vehicle.
The kit from The Switch Lab was sent in pieces, leaving students with the responsibility of working together to build the vehicle part by part.
EV Principles is available to all high schoolers, and this semester’s course has 14 students from a mix of grades. Students have taken full control of this project from start to finish, including project management, programming, and electrical and mechanical work. They divided themselves into groups to tackle the project in sections and got to work.
The students had lots to say about the project and the building process, including some of the hurdles they ran into along the way.
“Some things had to be done before others in order to move on to the next step, which the instructions manual didn’t mention, so we had to figure it out in the moment,” says 11th grader Chelsi. “That was a challenge we didn’t anticipate.”
The students say they like collaborating and seeing the project come together. They are all excited to get the vehicle operational and be able to drive it, which they expect to happen this month.
This build is not the first EV that Sam and his STEM students have put together. Last year, Sam took a 12-year-old EV kit build down to the frame and had his students rebuild it. However, given how quickly the EV industry evolves and the age of the vehicle, it had more simplistic mechanisms and didn’t match up to the way many modern EVs look. That inspired Sam to create the EV Principles class and start looking for a new version for the students to use this year.
The new EV features a motor similar to many modern electric vehicle motors on the market. The motor is not only faster but can also be fully controlled through a tablet the students are programming. It controls torque, battery voltage, vehicle speed and range, total amps expended, battery life, rotations and more.
The school was able to invest in the project and student learning thanks to a grant from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for high demand trades education.
For participating students, the class offers a new opportunity to learn outside of the confines of a classroom.
“The hands-on approach is great and is a nice change from having to sit at a desk all day,” Chelsi says.
The EV industry is still ever-evolving. As soon as a textbook comes out about the technology, it is out of date. The class does use a textbook for some supplemental learning about the EV manufacturing process that students don’t have access to. Throughout this course, students immerse themselves directly in the technology and mechanics of an EV and interact with the technology in a way that is up to date with the industry.
“There is a gap in the industry here on the islands where lots of islanders drive EVs,” Sam says. “Most EV owners in San Juan County have to take their vehicles to Bellingham or Burlington when they need a technician. The hope is to inspire some students to take an interest in electric vehicle maintenance, maybe attend some training or schooling off island, and then bring that trade back to San Juan County.”
What’s next?
This month, the students take their completed vehicle to Skagit Valley for test driving on the racetrack. Students with driver’s licenses can opt in to drive, and two additional students can sit in the back seats as passengers and enjoy the ride.
Sam hopes to display the completed vehicle build at the Career and Technical Education Conference in Wenatchee in spring 2025, as well as at the Orcas Power & Light Cooperative annual meeting in April.
After making the rounds in the community to display the hard work of this semester’s students, Sam will once again break down the vehicle back to the frame, refurbish it and prepare it for a new batch of students to work on in the next iteration of the EV Principles course.
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Check out the vehicle in person at OPALCO’s annual Member Festival on April 25 on San Juan Island. Details to come.
