An inner city Detroit high school’s high-tech electric streamliner hit the Houston streets Saturday in a race for extreme energy efficiency. (See related photos: “Rare Look Inside Carmakers’ Drive for 55.”)

But unlike most futuristic vehicles competing in the annual Shell* Eco-marathon Americas competition this weekend, the battery-powered prototype tapped the latest smartphone technology to display battery life and collect data for future test runs.

Mentor and professional test engineer Paul Wright called this kind of innovation second nature for students of University of Detroit Jesuit High School, who engineered detachable steering wheels and Dr. Pepper-bottle pressurization systems. (Take the related quiz: “What You Don’t Know About Cars and Fuel.”)

“With the young people we have here, they don’t know what