KENNESAW, Ga. | Jun 5, 2017

International evGrandPrix recognizes team’s innovative battery pack design

Kennesaw State University’s Electric Vehicle Team recently won first place for engineering design at the International evGrandPrix, an international intercollegiate competition of electric-powered go-karts.

Kennesaw State’s student competition team, a part of the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, competed against electric go-karts from colleges and universities across North America in the all-electric series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The International evGrandPrix scoring is based on three key areas: race performance, energy efficiency and engineering design of the lightweight vehicles.

“We developed a new type of battery pack for the competition that had never been used before, and the judges were very impressed by our ability to design and manufacture it,” said Tyler Rowan, the electrical design team lead and the driver for KSU’s team.

Because of high winds on race day, which knocked over a timing transponder tower that tracks vehicle positions, competition officials were only able to award the first-place finisher, Purdue University.

The Kennesaw State team, founded in 2013, has been competing in the annual evGrandPrix for five years, earning first place in race performance in 2016. Four of the team’s 22 members – Rowan, Austin May, Neil Grimsley and Fang Lin, who are all electrical engineering majors – traveled to Indianapolis for the race.

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 45,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.