BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – A group of Texas A&M students is preparing to debut an all-electric race car designed, built and raced entirely by students.
The Texas A&M Society of Automotive Engineers builds three racing vehicles: Baja for off-road competition, an internal-combustion car and an electric Formula E car.
“We have Baja, who’s an off-roading car. IC, who makes a combustion car. And then us, we’re special because we make a fully electric car,” said Sahil Goel, a Formula SAE team member who works in marketing.
The student team functions similarly to a professional racing operation, handling design, fabrication, driving, public relations and sponsorships.
Purav Dutta serves as the project manager this year, “I get to manage the 140-plus extremely talented people on the team. And I get to essentially make sure that the car gets from paper to a driving race car in about eight months.”
Dutta said students manufacture most of the car’s components themselves.
“Pretty much every part on the car you see is a student running a machine, like actually making it from a block of aluminum or a block of titanium,” Dutta said.
The group holds driver tryouts and competes each year against regional and international teams. Last year’s car cost about $85,000, and this year’s version is expected to exceed $100,000.
Team members said partnerships with major companies provide support beyond funding and help students transition into the workforce.
“This project is truly a chance for the engineers to kind of show off what they’re doing,” said Victoria Haider, a Formula SAE team member in marketing. “Once they leave college, like there’s not very many, if not, honestly, I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t left this program who doesn’t have a job going out of college.”
The public can see this year’s car and meet the team at the group’s Rollout event Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Aggie Park.
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