Students compete in 'future energy' model car race
- By Chen Boyuan
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 1, 2016
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| A primary student controls a model car during a race at the Vehicles for Sustainable Energy Challenge (VSE) on Sunday, July 31, 2016. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn] |
A group of 174 students from more than 10 provinces and municipalities gathered in Beijing to compete in the Vehicles for Sustainable Energy Challenge (VSE) on July 30-31. It was a race for model cars, the electrics modules of which had been purely charged by wireless power transfer.
These students, coming from primary schools to senior high schools, went to a summer camp the week before, during which they received intensified lectures and training regarding 3D modeling, electric circuits, model car design and 3D printing.
The competing cars, all made by the students, were driven by electric motors and the batteries needed to be charged by electromagnetic fields similar to a Tesla coil transformer installed beneath the race circuit, and the model cars were recharged each time they ran above the coils.
In this way, an electric car could get continual recharging while cruising along the circuit, instead of having to stop to charge when the battery is about to exhaust. Therefore, such a model car is powered by "sustainable energy" and this way of recharging represents "future energy," according to the organizer, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, the agency that supervises the growth and development of youth.
The Beijing Motor Corp. provided the venue and part of the fund for the competition. The company's General Manager Zhang Xiyong said at its opening ceremony that the contest was "an opportunity for the BAIC to fulfill its social responsibility and to educate youth on automobile-related knowledge." He and officials from the Youth League both noted that the competition will be made into an annual event.
The competition did not offer prize money for winners, but instead made sure each participant went home taking a trophy to mark the "best single circuit result," "best performance in an endurance race," "best team organization" and even for "best sportsmanship." The organizer said this was to ensure that all participants had an enjoyable experience while encouraging more students to join in the competition next year.
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