ELECTRIC DREAMS: How a Group of Forgotten High School Kids Built the Car of the Future
Caroline Kettlewell, . . Carroll & Graf, $24 (290pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-1271-7
In 1995 the Virginia Power company hosted a competition for high schools in the mid-Atlantic region to convert conventional automobiles into electric vehicles (EVs). As it happened, out of habitual disregard for impoverished Northampton County in North Carolina, the company nearly forgot to invite the eventual winners. Aided by a handful of phenomenal teachers, some uncommonly bright and determined students and a pervading regional interest in automobiles fueled by NASCAR, the county was able to outperform schools of far greater pedigree and budget. Of course, the widespread, reflexive negative expectations provided no small motivation to the kids of Northampton County. They mastered problems involving electrical wiring, battery longevity, welding and aerodynamics in converting a 1985 Ford Escort to the aptly named—in more ways than one—"Shocker." A resident of Richmond, Va., Kettlewell (
Reviewed on: 02/23/2004
Genre: Nonfiction