Electrathon America (https://www.electrathonamerica.org/)is a program to design, build and race small efficient electric vehicles. We need help developing a curriculum, expand outreach using social media, design an electric drive system and document it, fabricate and test the drive system, update our website, and more. https://oregonstate.joinhandshake.com/jobs/4913919

ELECTRATHON AMERICA

Primarily High School program to teach students how to design, build and race small efficient electric vehicles.

Qualifications

ALLOWED SCHOOL YEARS

All school years and graduation dates allowed

ALLOWED MAJORS

All Industrial Engineering, Energy Engineering, Automation Engineering, General Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Computer Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering majors

WORK AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS

No US work authorization required

• Design Assist - Provide a design support system for members. This will include CAD files for existing components and creating new part files, and also finding or creating electrical components for schematics, then providing access through the EA website, linking to other sources as required. A website called GrabCAD is a likely start, where an EA group can be formed and existing parts pulled in like wheels, brakes, motors and batteries to do basic vehicle layout. In addition, parts can be created to add to the library as needed. The same can be done with electrical components like contactors, key switches, instrumentation and more. The measure of success will be the percentage of mechanical and electrical parts readily available to drag and drop into a new design project. Even if interns do not have the experience to complete these tasks, assistance is available within EA to quickly get up to speed. This would directly support on-line Electrathon vehicle design support, and can be done within the expected 100 man-hour intern support goal.
• Design Examples - document some existing vehicles and/or subsystems and provide access to CAD and electrical schematics. Some board members have offered their designs to be shared with members. This would require interviewing the designers, collecting whatever information is available, and documenting the design (or subsystems) then uploaded to the EA website for sharing. This would build upon the task above with very specific examples that have been track-tested and proven.
• Outreach - collect email contact info for Mid-Valley high schools, colleges and youth organizations and send introductory emails explaining the EA program. Notify individuals of all EA social media groups. The goal would be to find enough interest to start some local teams. Although the heart and history of Electrathon is largely in Albany (and Eugene), there are no teams in Linn/Benton county (Eugene is very active). The most activity has been in FL, TX and KS. This can serve as a model for a national outreach program
• Direct local support for an Electrathon Team - if interest is found for a local team, some funds can be used to help them build a vehicle. A set of wheels, motor and batteries, or a frame kit can be provided for $500 - $1000. Ideally, a new vehicle could be built in time for a summer event in Corvallis (at DaVinci Days) but that is optimistic.
• Provide a drive system design. List all parts required, with sources. Create an electrical schematic. Purchase parts and fabricate a working system to validate design.

Questions? 

Email resume to;

Gary Krysztopik

President, Electrathon America

(210) 722-2977

Josefine Fleetwood, (she/her/hers)

Employer Relations Manager

Oregon State University | College of Engineering

Josefine.fleetwood@oregonstate.edu