WSU-UI Electric Car Places In National Contest

Sat., May 6, 1995

Compiled By Mary Beth Donelan

A hybrid electric car designed and constructed by students at the University of Idaho and Washington State University placed fourth overall at the United States Department of Energy Advanced Student Hybrid (DASH) Challenge in Los Angeles.

Teams from eight schools across the country entered vehicles in the competition. Students had to design and build a hybrid electric vehicle from the ground up and take part in several vehicle performance tests. The car competed in several categories including acceleration, autocross, consumer acceptance, emissions, energy economy and a road rally.

The UI/WSU entry took first place in the Diamond Bar-Long Beach Road Rally competition. The team’s fourth-place-overall finish placed them behind vehicles designed by teams from the University of California-Davis, Cornell University and the New York Institute of Technology.

Fifteen UI and WSU students accompanied the vehicle to California. The UI senior mechanical engineering majors were: Ken Kubo, Shawn Riffe, Brian Gordon, Sean Harris, Ken Reaves, Rick Cantrell, John Waite, Darin Peterson, Carl Powell and Yancy Wright.

Team members from WSU included Kirk Lupkes, Steve Harold, Angela Phipps and Bryan Bowe. Dean Edwards, UI professor of mechanical engineering and advisor of the UI/WSU team accompanied the group along with Alan Chapman, a 1994 UI mechanical engineering graduate.

Kevin Brown, Spokane, was recently initiated into Tau Beta Pi, the national honor society in engineering. Brown is a civil engineering senior at the University of Wyoming.

Air Force Cadet Russell Bastian, son of David and Marilyn Bastian of Veradale, has been placed on the Commandant’s List for military excellence for earning a 3.0 or better military performance average at the end of the semester.

Bastian is a graduate of Central Valley High School, Spokane.

MEMO: To tell us about your achievements and good deeds, write to Achievements, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.

To tell us about your achievements and good deeds, write to Achievements, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.