Indiana's Battery-Powered Car
Students from Central High School in Evansville, Indiana, test drove their battery-powered car in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2015 in Detroit, Michigan, on April 12, 2015.
Pictures: Millennials Test Cute, Efficient Cars of the Future
At Shell Eco-marathon Americas, more than a thousand students vie to see who can build a car that runs on the least amount of fuel.
On the streets of Motor City, where horse-and-buggies made way more than a century ago for Henry Ford’s “quadricycle,” a new generation of innovators—many still teenagers—recently test drove possible cars of the future.
For ultimate fuel efficiency, the millennials created low-slung roadsters made of lightweight plastic or carbon fiber. Some opted for boxier mini versions of the 1960s Volkswagen bus, complete with peace stickers, surf boards, or “Why Not” license plates.
The cars are not ready for showrooms anytime soon, but their performance would likely impress even Ford or Tesla founder Elon Musk.
The top gasoline-fueled entry at this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Americas, which ended Sunday in Detroit, achieved the equivalent of 3,421 miles per gallon. On the final run, the University
