DARLINGTON - A vehicle that gets more than 180 miles per gallon sounds pretty good in a time when a gallon of gasoline costs more than $3.50.
It's not just a pipe dream - Kevin Olson, a senior at Darlington High School, designed and constructed a High Mileage Vehicle (HMV) that can go from Darlington to Madison and back and then have enough left to get to Monroe and back on one gallon of gasoline.
Olson's vehicle finished fourth out of the 12 schools that competed in Challenge Wisconsin, a competition sponsored by the Wisconsin Energy Efficient Vehicle Association held recently at University of Wisconsin-Stout. His vehicle registered 186 mpg. The winning vehicle was made by a team from Medford and averaged 317 mpg.
While most students competed on teams of five, Olson was a team of one and did all the design and construction. Olson was the only student from Darlington to compete.
It took him just 23 days to make the vehicle, DHS Woods teacher Dick Anderson said. Olson used a recycled garage door track to make the frame. The vehicle, powered by a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine, runs on regular gasoline and reaches a top speed of 27 mph. The speed limit for the track is 30 mph.
There were several requirements that Olson had to include in his design. The vehicle needed a braced roll bar capable of supporting 350 pounds of dead load, emergency kill switches both in and out of the vehicle, a safety fire wall between the driver and the engine and the ability to start the engine from the inside. The maximum width allowed was 5 feet, with a maximum wheel base of 9 feet. It had to be able to go at least 15 mph and have brakes that can stop the vehicle in 25 feet or less when traveling at 15 mph. It also needed a steering system, clutch and drive train system and a three-point safety belt system, among other requirements.
"Other teams of five at the competition were pretty impressed because they know what it takes to build a vehicle to all the safety specifications and then compete as well as he did his first year," Anderson said, noting Olson is "an extraordinary student."
More information about Challenge Wisconsin is available at www.challengewisconsin.org.
It's not just a pipe dream - Kevin Olson, a senior at Darlington High School, designed and constructed a High Mileage Vehicle (HMV) that can go from Darlington to Madison and back and then have enough left to get to Monroe and back on one gallon of gasoline.
Olson's vehicle finished fourth out of the 12 schools that competed in Challenge Wisconsin, a competition sponsored by the Wisconsin Energy Efficient Vehicle Association held recently at University of Wisconsin-Stout. His vehicle registered 186 mpg. The winning vehicle was made by a team from Medford and averaged 317 mpg.
While most students competed on teams of five, Olson was a team of one and did all the design and construction. Olson was the only student from Darlington to compete.
It took him just 23 days to make the vehicle, DHS Woods teacher Dick Anderson said. Olson used a recycled garage door track to make the frame. The vehicle, powered by a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine, runs on regular gasoline and reaches a top speed of 27 mph. The speed limit for the track is 30 mph.
There were several requirements that Olson had to include in his design. The vehicle needed a braced roll bar capable of supporting 350 pounds of dead load, emergency kill switches both in and out of the vehicle, a safety fire wall between the driver and the engine and the ability to start the engine from the inside. The maximum width allowed was 5 feet, with a maximum wheel base of 9 feet. It had to be able to go at least 15 mph and have brakes that can stop the vehicle in 25 feet or less when traveling at 15 mph. It also needed a steering system, clutch and drive train system and a three-point safety belt system, among other requirements.
"Other teams of five at the competition were pretty impressed because they know what it takes to build a vehicle to all the safety specifications and then compete as well as he did his first year," Anderson said, noting Olson is "an extraordinary student."
More information about Challenge Wisconsin is available at www.challengewisconsin.org.