Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future [Hardcover]

Caroline Kettlewell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2004

When Berkeley graduate Eric Ryan was sent by Teach for America to a hardscrabble high school in the heart of North Carolina's NASCAR country, he didn't count on Harold Miller — a big guy with a big laugh and a tarheel accent as thick as sorghum syrup — sticking his head into his class one morning and announcing, "Hey Mr. Ryan, we're gonna build an electric car." Two regional utilities had challenged a group of elite schools throughout the South to design and build battery-powered electric vehicles to be judged during a final contest at NASCAR's Richmond International Raceway. Although Ryan's underprivileged high school was not on the list, Miller managed to squeak them in. With a Ford Escort rescued from the compacter, a few hundred pounds of scavenged golf cart batteries, a local minor league NASCAR driver as coach, and the local constabulary looking the other way as the reborn "Shocker" began careening over back roads on test runs, the kids get their pasted-together dark horse to the big contest in Richmond. Electric Dreams offers drama built on marvelous small-town characters, and a story of never-say-die invention which would make North Carolina's other pioneers, the Wright Brothers, proud.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1995 the Virginia Power company hosted a competition for high schools in the mid-Atlantic region to convert conventional automobiles into electric vehicles (EVs). As it happened, out of habitual disregard for impoverished Northampton County in North Carolina, the company nearly forgot to invite the eventual winners. Aided by a handful of phenomenal teachers, some uncommonly bright and determined students and a pervading regional interest in automobiles fueled by NASCAR, the county was able to outperform schools of far greater pedigree and budget. Of course, the widespread, reflexive negative expectations provided no small motivation to the kids of Northampton County. They mastered problems involving electrical wiring, battery longevity, welding and aerodynamics in converting a 1985 Ford Escort to the aptly named—in more ways than one—"Shocker." A resident of Richmond, Va., Kettlewell (Skin Game) brings just the right regional flavor to a can't-miss true story reminiscent of the movie Breaking Away. The word "inspirational" is applied to too many books, but it comfortably fits this one, with its genuinely likable cast of unlikely achievers. This is essential reading for any serious environmentalist, as it makes the case that EVs might play even in the conservative South. Even more, it contains profound lessons that everyone involved in the educational system would do well to heed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This is a feel-good story about a competition that, for once, was not based on athletics. Instead it supported math, science, and technology education for high-school students by combining all three within a single project--converting a conventional car into an electric vehicle (EV). Two regional utilities backed a contest among a group of schools throughout the South to design and build EVs that would be judged during a contest to be held at NASCAR's Richmond International Raceway. An overexcitable neophyte science teacher and an unflappable, impassioned vocational technology instructor teamed up at a high school in the poorest county in North Carolina to mentor their students through the process. They found an old Ford Escort, dubbed Shocker; held countless fund-raisers to purchase hundreds of pounds of golf-cart batteries; and tested and re-tested their vehicle on the local back roads. By the time the hardworking team makes it to Richmond, where there is formidable competition from elite math academies, readers will be awaiting the results on the edge of their seats. Exciting and inspirational reading. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712716
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712717
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,738,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Electric & Hybrid

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Story of Overcoming Obstacles and Perceptions, March 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future (Hardcover)

Caroline Kettlewell has written an inspirational book that captures the essence of the people behind the successful and now world-renowned electric car team from northeastern North Carolina.

From the old codger shop teacher Harold Miller, to the young, energetic educator from California, Eric Ryan, Kettlewell has painted a lifelike picture of the people involved in this project. These are people you begin to care about as the story unfolds.

It's evident from reading this book that only Divine Intervention many times along the way made the project successful. If John Parker had not been friends with Miller and knew that he had been interested in building an electric car for quite some time, Miller would never have been chosen. If Ryan had not decided to move to a rural community in North Carolina and live with Parker, the project clearly would not have been successful. If Randy Shillingburg had not known Parker and had faith in his friends in North Carolina, the project would never have even begun. And if the wonderful group of students and other teachers had not decided to devote their free time on evenings and weekends, the team's electric car would never have been completed on time.

Kettlewell's story also makes a strong environmental statement. Her book questions how a group of students and teachers from poor, rural schools could build an environmental-friendly vehicle -- while the nation's automakers are reluctant to do the same a decade later.

Electric Dreams is a true story that makes one think, while providing an inspirational message for anyone who believes that obtacles can be overcome and students from even the poorest, most rural schools can be successful.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting and true story of determination and true grit, March 11, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future (Hardcover)

Berkeley graduate Eric Ryan's journey to North Carolina to an improvised high school where his encounter with Harold Miller would lead to an electric car's design and development would change his life. Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team Of Kids And The Race To Build The Car Of The Future documents how an unlikely band of kids would build the car of the future in the heart of NASCAR country, beating the odds to win a high school competition. An exciting and true story of determination and true grit - and fast cars.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE UNDERDOG TRIUMPHS, December 12, 2004

By 

Brady Buchanan (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future (Hardcover)

The quality of writing and the humaness of this story should tickle the cockles of your heart as it did mine as this is all about the underdog achieving the impossible. You will become part of the team to crete an electric car from absolutely nothing using the expertise of a few noble men who had to learn while on-the-job. This is done by a handful of teachers in a high school located in Northampton County, North Cajrolina noted for its majority of "poor people." The students are the drivers and the teachers the guiders in a story that makes you feel good all over with a group of young people that overcome being made fun of and do accomplish the impossible.