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The Electric Vehicle Grand Prix (stylized as evGrand Prix) is an electric go-kart race held at Purdue University and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

http://evgrandprix.org/

How it started

Purdue University, in conjunction with University of Notre Dame, University of Indianapolis, Ivy Tech Community College, Purdue University Calumet, and Indiana University Northwest, was awarded a $6.1 million grant by the United States Department of Energy. This grant was awarded to create The Indiana Advanced Electric Vehicle Training and Education Consortium (I-AEVtec). The goal of this consortium is to educate and train the workforce needed to design, manufacture, and maintain advanced electric vehicles and the associated infrastructure. This goal includes creating online courses related to batteries, fuel cells, motors, controls, electric vehicles, and environmental impact. As part of this grant, Purdue created an event called the Electric Vehicle Grand Prix. The grant was part of the grants announced by President Obama at a speech in Elkhart, Indiana in August 2009.^[1]

The race

The Electric Vehicle Grand Prix is an event at Purdue University that allows students to get real experience with electric vehicles. The first Electric Vehicle Grand Prix was held on April 18, 2010. Students join a team either through a build class or a student-organized team. Each team builds a battery-powered electric go-kart and races it in the event. The 2010 race was an endurance race consisting of 80 laps and a battery change.^[2] In 2011, a second event took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where teams would compete in the International evGrand Prix. For the 2013 International evGrand Prix, the event was split up into two races. The first race featured electric karts with standard motors and batteries while the second race featured karts with upgraded motors and batteries. 2013 ended up being the last race at the Purdue Grand Prix track and so that the event could make more money, all further races were moved to Indianapolis, despite the majority of teams coming from Purdue and most teams stating that they still desired an event at Purdue. In 2015 for the first time the race was sanctioned by USAC. In 2016, the evGrand Prix became part of the Student Karting World Finals, along with the High School evGrand Prix and the new National Gas Grand Prix, all of which were sanctioned by USAC.^[3] In 2015 for the first time the race was sanctioned by USAC. In 2016, the evGrand Prix became part of the Student Karting World Finals, along with the High School evGrand Prix and the new National Gas Grand Prix, all of which were sanctioned by USAC.^[4] However, the National Gas Grand Prix was canceled after only two teams purchased karts for the race. After the 2015 event the race organizers split with USAC, with the race going forward being sanctioned by the World Karting Association and being ran by the staff of the US distributor of Italian kart manufacturer Topkart.

The 2017 event introduced the new high school division to the evGrand Prix, inviting high schools from around Indiana to purchase Topkart chassis and Alltrax/Motenergy powertrains to race before the collegiate event. The 2018 event brought in a new third division, the autonomous evGrand Prix.^[5] Only two teams were entered into the inaugural event, one, LHP Engineering Solutions, contracted by the event organizers and the other composed of students from the Electric Vehicle Club (EVC) at Purdue University. In the first year of the division, both teams elected to design the karts to be controlled via remote control. The student-built kart ultimately lapped the track in less than half of the time of the LHP-built kart, despite being built for a fraction of the cost. Both karts were built on Topkart chassis, however there was a generally negative reaction to the autonomous event on a Topkart social media post.

Recent events

Since the introduction of the high school event in 2017, the focus of the event organizers has radically changed to essentially ignoring the collegiate event. The 2017 race turned out to be a low point for the event with a lack of notable race teams, including several prominent teams not attending, an all-time low kart count, and a multitude of mechanical problems for the top karts in the event. Compared to the 2018 event, the 2017 winner only finished 11th in 2018, showing the severe lack of talent in 2017. In the buildup to the 2018 event, race organizers rejected bids to join the event from the Indiana Institute of Technology and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology due to previous personal conflicts between one of the race organizers and the administrations of those schools years ago. In general, public perception of the race organizers among collegiate participants has declined in recent years, primarily due to the organizers having a much larger focus on the high school race, in addition to only one event winner ever coming from outside of Indiana. In particular, the 2018 collegiate race was marked by a controversial event involving qualifying of one team from Purdue University. In the high school rulebook it is stated that teams must use Topkart chassis and Hoosier Tires, however there is no such statement in the collegiate rulebook. After qualifying it was revealed that this team's qualifying time was disallowed and was placed at the back of the grid. After an appeal by the team, their time was replaced and they were allowed to start where they qualified. Many of the race participants are unhappy with current race organizers, including one who forced himself into the academic advisor role at one of the teams. This organizer has been involved with many shady deals including ones with Keating Supercars and it is suspected that he is forcing his team to spend money on race sponsors' products, on which he likely receives kickbacks. This race organizer also is an employee of Purdue in the office of engagement, however it is unknown what his daily job is, as he spends most days trying to make money for evGrand Prix and himself instead of helping students. Otherwise, there has been must unrest over both the collegiate and high school rules, as many believe they are limiting to innovation and design, especially considering the high school race claims it is pioneering innovation yet it only allows for one motor controller, motor, chassis, and tire manufacturer. Many collegiate competitors have also shown unrest since the introduction of the high school event because the evGrand Prix social media outlets almost exclusively focus on the high school event, rather than the more technologically-advanced collegiate event.

Education now

At Purdue there were four classes offered that relate directly to electric vehicles across multiple disciplines, including "Communication and Emerging Technologies" and "Electric Vehicle Systems". However these classes were all cancelled by 2015. Many high school teams have classes involving the electric kart that then enter a kart into the race.

Winners

Purdue University Event Winners
Year	Driver	Team	University
2010	Brett Hensler	Delta Sigma Phi	Purdue University
2011	Justin Cleaver	Team Theablig	Purdue University
2012	Jimmy Simpson (racing driver)	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University
2013	Jimmy Simpson (racing driver)	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Event Winners
Year	Driver	Team	University	notes
2011	Chris Weyer	IUPUI Electric Jaguars	Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
2012	Jimmy Simpson (racing driver)	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University
2013	Rob Havel		Purdue University	race 1
2013	Jimmy Simpson (racing driver)	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University	race 2
2014	Chip Challis	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University
2015	Weigang Wang	Ivy Tech Team Green	Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
2016	Gabriel Capo	Kennesaw State Electric Vehicle Team	Kennesaw State University
2017	Henry Davis	Motorsports at Purdue	Purdue University
2018	Kevin Liu	Electric Vehicle Club	Purdue University

EV vs. Gas Challenge

On October 25, 2014, five EV and five gas karts competed on the same track for the first time in Purdue history. The race was scheduled for October 18, but was delayed due to rain. Cary Racing swept the front row with a gas kart on pole, and an EV starting second. The gas karts dominated the race, as eventual winner Eli Salamie leading all 40 laps for Cary Racing. Christian Jones in the #34 PEF kart was the highest finishing EV kart in 4th.

Interesting History

2018

First year for the high school event to have two races. The first race was red flagged so that one of the race organizers could scold the inexperienced drivers on their poor driving after a series of crashes.

21 karts entered in collegiate race, 10 coming from Purdue University.

2017

The first race sanction by WKA and first high school race.

All time low for collegiate race entries with only 16 karts entered.

First time race ran under WKA standards rather than Purdue Grand Prix standards, including full kart bodywork, no roll cages, and no seat belts or headrests.

2015

The first of two races sanctioned by USAC before leaving in 2016, citing poor race organization by Purdue

2013

Last event at Purdue University

2012

EVC sets a lap record time of 25.9 s ^[6]

2011

The Indiana-only race was on April 30 at Purdue University.
A week later, on May 7, there will be a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for any school wishing to participate.^[7]

2010

The attendance was over 2000 people.
18 karts were signed up for the race, only 17 raced in the event.

External links

Official website

References

^ "President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Grants to Accelerate the Manufacturing and Deployment of the Next Generation of U.S. Batteries and Electric Vehicles". Press release from whitehouse.gov, August 5, 2009.
^ "2011 Event A Kart Specifications". evGrandPrix. November 29, 2010.
^ http://www.usackarting.com/
^ http://www.usackarting.com/
^ http://evgrandprix.org/autonomous/
^ http://www.electricvehicleclub.org/?p=689
^ http://www.evgrandprix.org/

[1] "President Obama Announces $2.4 Billion in Grants to Accelerate the Manufacturing and Deployment of the Next Generation of U.S. Batteries and Electric Vehicles". Press release from whitehouse.gov, August 5, 2009.

[2] "2011 Event A Kart Specifications". evGrandPrix. November 29, 2010.

[3] ttp://www.usackarting.com/

[4] ttp://www.usackarting.com/

[5] ttp://evgrandprix.org/autonomous/

[6] ttp://www.electricvehicleclub.org/?p=689

[7] ttp://www.evgrandprix.org/

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@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 ended up being the last race at the [[Purdue Grand Prix]] track and so that the event could make more money, all further races were moved to Indianapolis, despite the majority of teams coming from Purdue and most teams stating that they still desired an event at Purdue. In 2015 for the first time the race was sanctioned by [[United States Auto Club|USAC]].  In 2016, the evGrand Prix became part of the Student Karting World Finals, along with the High School evGrand Prix and the new National Gas Grand Prix, all of which were sanctioned by USAC.<ref>http://www.usackarting.com/</ref> In 2015 for the first time the race was sanctioned by [[United States Auto Club|USAC]].  In 2016, the evGrand Prix became part of the Student Karting World Finals, along with the High School evGrand Prix and the new National Gas Grand Prix, all of which were sanctioned by USAC.<ref>http://www.usackarting.com/</ref>  However, the National Gas Grand Prix was canceled after only two teams purchased karts for the race. After the 2015 event the race organizers split with USAC, with the race going forward being sanctioned by the [[World Karting Association]] and being ran by the staff of the US distributor of Italian kart manufacturer Topkart.
-The 2017 event introduced the new high school division to the evGrand Prix, inviting high schools from around Indiana to purchase Topkart chassis and Alltrax/Motenergy powertrains to race before the collegiate event. The 2018 event brought in a new third division, the autonomous evGrand Prix.<ref>http://evgrandprix.org/autonomous/</ref>  Only two teams were entered into the inaugural event, one, LHP Engineering Solutions, contracted by the event organizers and the other comprised of students from the Electric Vehicle Club (EVC) at Purdue University. In the first year of the division, both teams elected to design the karts to be controlled via [[remote control]]. The student-built kart ultimately lapped the track in less than half of the time of the LHP-built kart, despite being built for a fraction of the cost. Both karts were built on Topkart chassis, however there was a generally negative reaction to the autonomous event on a Topkart social media post.
+The 2017 event introduced the new high school division to the evGrand Prix, inviting high schools from around Indiana to purchase Topkart chassis and Alltrax/Motenergy powertrains to race before the collegiate event. The 2018 event brought in a new third division, the autonomous evGrand Prix.<ref>http://evgrandprix.org/autonomous/</ref>  Only two teams were entered into the inaugural event, one, LHP Engineering Solutions, contracted by the event organizers and the other composed of students from the Electric Vehicle Club (EVC) at Purdue University. In the first year of the division, both teams elected to design the karts to be controlled via [[remote control]]. The student-built kart ultimately lapped the track in less than half of the time of the LHP-built kart, despite being built for a fraction of the cost. Both karts were built on Topkart chassis, however there was a generally negative reaction to the autonomous event on a Topkart social media post.
 == Recent events ==