McCormick junior Chris Uustal was pushing for Northwestern Formula Racing to switch to an electric car since his freshman year. When a new executive board formed this past summer, he brought it up again. 

Every year, the team designs and manufactures a race car, which it uses in competitions against over 100 different universities in Spring Quarter. Formula decided to start the transition to an electric car this year, while also producing their usual gas-powered car. 

“We really thought about it and we were like, ‘If we’re going to move eventually, why not now?’” Uustal said. “(That) really became the question, rather than ‘Why should we move now?’” 

The gas-powered car will be the only vehicle to compete in the spring. Thirty students in the club are working to develop the completely battery-powered electric motor by the end of the year. If they are successful, the entire club will work on the electric vehicle next year. 

With engineering industries transitioning away from internal combustion and other universities switching from combustion cars to electric vehicles, Formula decided it was time to evolve. 

While the internal combustion teams lean on blueprints from previous years to support their designs, the electric vehicle team is starting from scratch. McCormick freshman Youssef Abdelhalim is designing the cooling system for the electric vehicle, and he said he has to learn concepts taught to juniors and seniors.

Abdelhalim said he likes the fact that no one on the electric vehicle team knows what they’re doing, since Formula has never built an electric car before. He added he specifically refused to look into examples of successful cooling systems for electric cars, because he wanted to figure out everything on his own. Instead, he utilizes engineering concepts “for dummies” videos and asks older members for advice.

“I would go up to (Uustal) asking, ‘What is the heat dissipation for this? How do I figure it out?’” Abdelhalim said. “And he’s like, ‘I don’t know. We can figure this out together.’”

According to Uustal, this type of collaboration defines the team’s culture. Not only is everyone willing to help each other out, but the members committing time to the club are also completely invested in the car they are building, he said.

McCormick sophomore Sarah Yung said she could not have cared less about cars when she joined the team. Now, she’s still not interested in cars, but she’s completely dedicated to the project, she said. 

Yung spent about 40 hours a week on the club as a freshman because she wanted to see the design through to the end. 

Although the amount of time every member spends on the project differs, she said the majority of the club is equally invested. When the team finally got the engine to turn on last year, everyone cheered. During the manufacturing period, Yung said she dropped by the Ford Center regularly to see what other people were working on.

“I can wander around during a workday and just go up to someone and be like, ‘What are you working on?’” Yung said. “They will tell me about it and nerd out, and I think that’s so fun.”

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @EmmaCRosenbaum

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