One thing I really love about electric racing here at Tufts is
you show up and we'll have a spot for you.
You show up and we'll have a job for you.
I've heard the team referred to as scrappy,
which I think is very accurate.
We've always been a team that has been considered an underdog.
What the Tufts team does have is letting everyone in and
really passionate people.
The people on the team-- they love to build things.
I love to build things.
I have so much fun doing it
and I hang out with people that I really enjoy.
The goal is to create a formula-style electric car.
We compete against other colleges.
You really need to be hyper-organized because
you're building a car in a year and, you know, this year, we threw out our
whole design from last year, basically, and said,
"We're starting fresh."
From the outside perspective, there are three main teams.
There's electrical, mechanical, and business operations.
Mechanical works on all of the physical aspects of the car:
steering, suspension, braking and acceleration,
aerodynamics,
the chassis,
the battery boxes,
the seat, ergonomics and firewall
protection for the driver.
Anything that you can think of: If it goes on the car,
Mechanical is probably working on that.
Electrical then works on around 200 components.
Our car has around 160 horsepower.
We're expected to be able to do zero to 60 in around 5 seconds.
We have a lot of challenges.
I would say probably our biggest challenge is time.
Manufacturing just takes longer than you expect.
So you might have allotted a week
and it might actually take three weeks.
What materials is it going to need to be made out of,
what are the rules requirements...
making sure that we pass all of the inspections.
Because without that, then, you can't race.
The goal is the engineering experience.
If we can get a car that runs, I'll be satisfied.
I'll be more satisfied if it passes technical inspection.
But that's, you know, that's the fear.
That might have been a first try.
[Over PA system] Attention in the paddock. Attention in the paddock.
The updated schedules for project management and design
are posted in the window of the media center.
They're probably spending 1000 hours over the course of
six weeks just to get this car ready.
And it's probably the best hands-on experience that they'll get.
They do a whole bunch of math, they do a whole bunch of CAD,
they actually build something and then they get to discover
like, well, was it right?
Does the car actually drive?
Was is it... is it safe?
Especially when you're on a college team,
you have things that are going wrong
and you don't know why they're going wrong.
So you're just like, guess I'll take it apart and look at it.
That sort of troubleshooting is really a critical thing to learn,
especially as an engineer.
When we tested our brakes,
we went, accelerated,
and then slammed on the brakes.
Do they stop?
The entirety of the front suspension
just buckled and then skidded forward.
And they've rebuilt all the electronics,
rebuilt the suspension.
It's basically everything except the chassis.
I'm so proud of them for doing that.
It's so... it's just impressive.
If you look at what are the major challenges facing the world right now...
Oh, there's climate change.
Maybe there's space exploration.
I bet that people from this team will end up embedded in teams
that are solving those problems.
Everyone, round of applause for you guys.
This is what we built.
[Applause]
We've finished most of the mechanical work,
but yesterday we didn't have proper high-voltage tools,
which pushed us back to today.
We have a few hours until the judges leave.
We want to try to get it done ASAP.
No, no, they're not working.
I think I was surprised how much I enjoy
tackling a challenge that I have absolutely
no idea how to do
because that's how you start.
There's so much that you don't know.
There's so much that you're going to learn along the way,
and the best way to do that is to work with the people around you
to bring that home together.