Green car electrifies middle school students

By Jake O'Donnell
Staff writer

May 01, 2009 03:54 am

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NEWBURYPORT — Professor Ziyad Salameh's self-designed, self-built electric car was on display yesterday for the students and teachers of Nock Middle School in a presentation about the future of green vehicles and the importance of renewable energy.

Salameh is the director of the Center for Electric Cars and Energy Conversion at UMass Lowell, and his talk was part of the Institution for Savings Science Speakers Series. This series is funded through a portion of the $100,000 pledged to Nock by the bank in the interest of science over a 10-year period.

Outside on the pavement of Nock's basketball court, Salameh spoke before nearly 300 seventh- and eighth-graders and finished with a short demonstration by driving the noiseless, emission-free compact car around the court.

Nock Principal Barry Hopping was delighted to have Salameh speaking to students, who Hopping believes are extremely tuned in to what's happening in the world around them.

"I think that there is a greater awareness of our students, not just at Nock but in general, that this going to be their planet," Hopping said. "I think they're becoming much more conscious of things that are harmful. They are on top of this more than you'd ever think."

Mary Anne Clancy, vice president of communications for the Institution for Savings, was pleased the bank could contribute to the furthering of education for these middle school students.

"Our Board of Directors felt really strongly that there was a need to improve science in our schools, and clearly it seems to be working," Clancy said.

Salameh's car, which he's been driving since 1994, runs on 12 lead-acid batteries stored in both the front and back of the vehicle. As a leader in renewable energy research, Salameh recently spoke to groups in Japan, China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"This car is very reliable," he said. "There is no need for maintenance. You won't need to go to the gas station for lube and oil change, mufflers, anything."

He said that he carries extra fuses with him because that's just about the only thing that needs to be replaced from time to time.

The two biggest hurdles facing the expansion of electric cars are the range of use and the length of time needed to charge the batteries.

The range for Salameh's car is only 60 miles, which is fine for his 12-mile daily commute to work but not enough to be mass-produced.

The current technology for batteries consists of the lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries, the latter of which can compete with internal-combustion engines by having a range of around 300 miles.

"That's it!" said an excited Salameh. "That's all you need. Once you have that, and you mass-produce it, then the price of these cars will go down."

If the other issue of time spent charging the battery is resolved, it will also lead to more production. Right now, batteries for these cars need up to eight hours to fully charge, and Salameh and other scientists are trying to shorten that time to a matter of minutes.

He's also searching for ways to charge the cars using wind or solar energy.

But even if these problems are fixed, there's no current infrastructure in place to support a country of electric cars, Salameh said.

That's where the students at Nock Middle School, and students from across the United States and world, can enter into the picture. With the States lagging behind the rest of the international community in terms of science and math education, Hopping and Salameh hope seeing things like an emission-free car will stoke a lifelong interest in the sciences in these students.

"You plant the seed of interest in them," Salameh said. "We are trying to spread the word and educate."

Hopping could see that seed planted in at least one student immediately after presentation.

"One of the eighth-grade students asked me, 'Mr. Hopping, do they have a portable generator to charge this?'" he said. "'Wouldn't it be nice if they had their own turbine to charge it?' That's the type of thinking and conversation that's beginning to happen."