Waterloo Electric Vehicle Challenge
Hosted by Waterloo Engineering, the Waterloo High School Electric Vehicle (EV) Challenge allows students to design, build and drive their own electric race cars in an endurance competition. The 2024 EV Challenge takes place at the University of Waterloo on Saturday, May 25 (rain date Sunday, May 26) and will feature the following:
- Races for both 12 and 24 volt car classes
- Dennis Weishar Engineering Design Award for the best use of engineering principles
- Toyota Fabrication & Manufacturing Award for the best examples of manufacturing and fabrication skills
- Interstate Batteries Rookie Team Award for the top-ranked first-year team
Visit the Electric Vehicle Challenge
Our races are free and open to the public. For more information, see our page for visitors.
Start a team
The EV Challenge is a unique opportunity for teams to plan, design, and build their own electric vehicle. Sponsorship opportunities and advice are available for individuals looking to start a team. Find out more information about starting a team.
News
- June 23, 2022Students Get Charged Up For Electric Vehicle Challenge
June 23rd, 2022
Article published by The Waterloo Region District School Board
- Sep. 7, 20182018 Fall Kick Off
This year our EV Challenge Fall kick off will be on Saturday September 29th 2018. You can find all the info here: uwaterloo.ca/electric-vehicle-challenge/races/fall-kickoff.
The race will be held at the Waterloo Regional Emergency Services Training and Research Center (WRESTRC), located at Gate #3 at the Region landfill site on Erb Street in Waterloo (925 Erb St. W., Waterloo, ON N2J 3Z4). The gate will be opened at 8:30am – please follow the signs to get to the skid‐pad at the bottom of the hill.
- Aug. 15, 20162016 Fall Kickoff Race
Join us on October 1, 2016 for the Electric Vehicle Challenge Fall Kickoff. The Fall Kickoff gives teams an opportunity to show off the program to new students and ignite their build season. The Fall Kickoff will take place at the Waterloo Region Emergency Fire Training & Research Centre.
Blog
- June 3, 2016EV Challenge 2016 - Spring Race
On a warm morning, May 28, nine car teams and their cheering fans assembled on UW’s East Campus for the 2016 Waterloo Electric Vehicle Challenge. Having written stories about two of the local teams, I was especially keen to see the cars again and check in with the teams from Sir John A Macdonald Secondary School and Jacob Hespeler Secondary (above, Nate piloting their car down the straightaway).
Darin White here doing a little guest blogging again on the Waterloo Electric Vehicle Challenge site. The old saying “They are all winners” absolutely applies to this event and to the teams that fielded the cars on which they’ve worked so hard throughout the school year. These high school car clubs, made possible by committed staff and keen students, offer a wide variety of hands-on learning opportunities: design and engineering, graphic design, electronics, fabrication, CAD, driving, sponsorship, teamwork, club organization, recruiting, and the list goes on. I’ve got a whole lot of photos here to walk you through the event, but if you really want to know more about this: get involved. Start a club at your school. Volunteer to mentor students. Sponsor your local team.
Read more about the Waterloo High School EV Challenge Spring Race...
- May 19, 2016A team is born at Jacob Hespeler
Getting started can be the hardest part of any DIY endeavour. In the previous blog post, I talked about getting students involved in the EV Challenge. Today, we’re talking about getting whole schools involved. I visited rookie team Electric Warrior at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School a short twelve days before the EV Challenge race day to see how there were progressing and high-five them for starting a team.
Darin White here doing a little guest blogging again on the Waterloo Electric Vehicle Challenge site. You will definitely want to join us for race day on May 28, 2016 starting at 10:30am. We’ll all be on UW’s east campus at Columbia and Phillip Streets in Waterloo. The map, schedule and info for visitors to this free event can be found right here.
If you want to get a team started at your school, this is a great opportunity to see the cars, meet the teams and get hooked on the enthusiasm of all these makers building electric vehicles. Above (L-R) are the Electric Warriors: Faraz, Nate, Stephanie, Chantel, Mr. Ottema, Michelle, Mr. Johnson and Saxon. Monty, William and Raj on the team were away this day, so with only nine students in total you make up in commitment what you don’t have in numbers. This team formed in November 2015 and believe me: building a car with little previous experience in only six months is a big accomplishment.
- Apr. 27, 2016Building cars - building the future at SJAM
They say "seeing is believing", so I thought if I shared some photos of high school students building electric cars then more students would get involved, rightly believing that they can do it, too.
Darin White here doing a little guest blogging on the Waterloo Electric Vehicle Challenge site. I'm helping Waterloo Engineering's Peter Teertstra get some more eyes on this great program. There is a ton of info on the main site, but the one thing I want you to know is that May 28, 2016 is race day. Come out to this free-no-pay event on UW's east campus at Columbia and Phillip Streets in Waterloo. Everyone is welcome. Here are details for getting there.
While races happen a few days annually, the actual building of cars progresses intensely in high schools across Waterloo Region throughout the school year. I know this from the conversations around my own dinner table because my daughter Arden is in her second year of car club at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School. As a maker and a parent, I see the many positive outcomes from this program. WEVC provides opportunities for design, hands-on fabrication and teamwork. It offers motivation for diving into the math and physics behind the design as well as good reasons for learning to use tools and study material science. It is applied engineering and it all starts in Grade 9.
Pictured above are SJAM Grade 9 students Livia and Helen who are test-fitting the rollbar on car #703. You can click on any of these images to enlarge them.
Tag your social media posts with #WaterlooEVC and follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
I dropped in for SJAM car club after classes last week. Tech teacher and car club mentor Mr. Bluemke reminded everyone about team shirts, an upcoming race in Michigan and then introduced me and my camera.
The TADA Cup
Awarded to the team with the most laps completed in the 24 volt race
Interstate Batteries Top Rookie Team
Awarded to the first year team with the most laps completed in the 12 volt race
