MINDDRIVE arrived in Lake Charles on Monday afternoon for a pit stop during the group’s cross-country trek. The group is in
the process of driving an electric car from San Diego to Jacksonville, Fla., a 2,500-mile road trip.
However, due to the rainy weather Monday afternoon, the car was actually aboard a trailer when it pulled into Lake Charles.
“Unfortunately we can’t drive it in the rain. The hatch has to be up to drive because the motor will overheat,” said Linda
Buchner, president of MINDDRIVE.
MINDDRIVE is an educational program in Kansas City, Mo., that reaches out to high school students through an automotive class
and a contemporary communications class.
The automotive class works to build
prototype electric vehicles designed to drive efficiently, and the
contemporary communications
class teaches students writing skills, photography, and works on
Web design and social media.
The program has 18 students from five
different Kansas City high schools. They began working on the car in
November and completed
it in early June. The car is a 1977 Lotus and runs on a series of
batteries and a direct-current motor. The car is charged
by a stand-alone 220-volt generator.
“We’ve had some speed bumps. Charging the car takes longer than expected, and we’ve had to put it in the trailer for some
stretches to make up time. The car goes about 55 mph, and to charge it, it’s about a minute per mile,” Buchner said.
The Lake Charles stop was at the Sonic Drive-in on L’Auberge Drive. Sonic is one of the sponsors of MINDDRIVE’s cross-country
trip.
“It’s really impressive the work they
have gotten these kids to do on this car,” said Allen Greene, the area
supervisor for
Sonic. “Everybody here thought it was really neat. It was a neat
concept, a neat car. We were really excited to have the car
stop here today.”
Half the class and the mentors drove from San Diego to San Antonio and then were replaced by the second wave of students and
mentors. However, Christiana Moore, an incoming college freshman, is going along for the entire journey.
“I’ve always wanted to take a trip across the country,” Moore said. “You’re supposed to do something big before college so
here I am.”
Moore took both the automotive and the communications class last year.
“It was really fun, and I’m learning a lot,” Moore said. “I found out that I actually like photography a lot because of the
class.”
Each day the students have a specific
job like social media coordinator, photographer, or taking down
analytics from the electric
car.
MINDDRIVE is keeping a running log of
their journey online using real-time tracking through Google Latitude
and Twitter. Students
are also responsible for writing and giving presentations to
student and environmental groups along the way.
“It’s been super. We’ve met all kinds of people, car people, environmental enthusiasts,” Buchner said. “It’s been really fun.”