How Harrisburg High students build and rebuild this electric car each semester

Harrisburg High School students in the Tiger Stripes Garage automotive shop get a one-of-a-kind learning experience for a couple weeks each semester: building and rebuilding an electric car from scratch.

The Harrisburg School District is one of the first school districts in the state to offer this unique curriculum to students. The school received the car disassembled in about 40 different boxes in September by way of a $50,000 Perkins Reserve Grant awarded by the South Dakota Department of Education from American Rescue Plan funds in March last year.

Switch Vehicles Inc. based in Sebastopol, California, supplied the parts to build the electric vehicle from scratch, and a curriculum called “The Switch Lab,” with the grant funding, said Michael Amolins, director of instruction and federal programs for the district.

The curriculum also came with a week-long intensive training for automotive technology instructor Taylor Burkett, and Burkett went to that training in Aberdeen during the summer with a few other school districts from across the state represented, too, like Aberdeen itself, which he said has two electric cars.

Amolins said learning on an electric car like this places students at the “cutting edge” of the automotive industry in a field that most schools and automotive dealerships are just starting to introduce to their teams.

Burkett said the car helps him teach students about basic electric theory and understanding, the schematics of building a car, installing a brake system, suspension and steering, test drives around the school parking lot, adjustments, drivability and diagnostics.

“I believe some of the things we do in our program, like this electric car build, helps them prepare for the industry and gives them an edge to be able to succeed,” Burkett said, noting many of his students already work in the automotive industry, including seniors Riley Brewer, at Schulte Subaru, and Landon Tschetter, at Inland Truck Parts & Service.

Brewer said she learned a lot of different wiring techniques with the electric car, since it needs to run on much more battery power than a standard car does. It has six large batteries in the front end, all wired to snake around and plug in together, for a total of 72 volts of power. It gets plugged in at night to charge.

“There were a couple issues we ran into with wiring. It was a good learning experience to figure out how to diagnose that,” she said.

The class isn’t sure how long the car could drive for, but it can hit a top speed of about 33 miles per hour, Brewer said. Burkett said he plans to take the vehicle to local car shows to show off his students’ work, or to other schools in the area to promote the auto mechanics program to younger students.

The car is also fully licensed, registered and insured by the school district. Burkett said that makes it completely legal to drive around.

Students like Kendrick Droppers, a senior in Burkett’s class, go into the Tiger Stripes Garage and auto shop classes not for a career, but for a passion and love of cars. He’s worked on the electric car in class but is thinking of pursuing a career in the medical field.

Droppers said he has a background in vehicles that he picked up from his father and grandfather, who always had a passion for old cars. He himself has his “everyday car," a Chevy Cavalier from the 1990s, and then a 1967 Thunderbird that he enjoys working on, too.

“The opportunities that we have with this program are outrageous, and honestly a blessing,” Droppers said. “I never figured going into high school that I’d have these sorts of opportunities to be working on cars and stuff.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Harrisburg High offers 'cutting edge' experience with electric car