Maui High Schoolers Complete Second EV Conversion

In brief: "Electric Vehicle Conversions? Ya, that's my 5th period class." So it is at a Hawaiian high school in Maui.

Vehicle in the news

Make/Model: 1995 Toyota Corolla EV
Manufacturer: Toyota / Seabury Hall

The word

Seabury Hall, a prep school in Maui, offers several science and engineering classes with hands-on projects. One of those is vehicle conversions from internal combustion to electric propulsion.

The school also has classes in growing crops, converting them to biofuels, and converting a vehicle to run on those fuels. Another class involves converting a motorcycle to all-electric.

The "AC Car Team" just completed instlaling the electric power train in the pictured 1995 Toyota Corolla. It uses a 144V Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack to go up to 75mph for 60 miles per charge.

The first EV conversion has 3,000 miles on its odometer since the change and is being used as a data gathering platform by the University of Hawai'i.

Here's video of the class working on the car:

And so ...

Very cool and it's hoped that this kind of thing spreads nationally.

Photo credits: Seabury Hall