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The History of Greenpower
Greenpower is a company dedicated to promoting engineering and technology as careers to students aged 9-21 in any form of full or part-time education. This is achieved through unique hands-on projects to design, build and race an electric car.By taking part in the competition, all participants are given an insight into the real, tangible world of engineering. Since starting in 1999, it has expanded from being a 22-car secondary school event to a nationwide project holding the Goblin Formula series for primary school children, the original Formula 24 for secondary schools and relatively new Formula 24+ for teams aged 16-21 and in any form of full or part-time education. The competition is becoming increasingly popular, with 400 teams participating in 2008, a record number which stands as a testament to its unique approach to engineering and its ability to bring together and excite young people from a variety of different areas and backgrounds.
As the competition advances through the different age groups, the task of meeting the specifications becomes more challenging and engaging. The Goblin Formula for primary schools involves each team building a standard kit car, giving them a basic knowledge of the engineering skills needed to put a car together. At Formula 24 the specification becomes much more open-ended, with only a 24 volt electric motor and four 12 volt batteries being the standard issue to each team. For teams aged 16-21, Formula 24+ allows older competitors to both take their experience from Formula 24 and build a more competitive, faster car or to join the competition and compete with other teams of their age and ability. This continuous development within the competition itself encourages its participants further into developing their own skills and knowledge, and allows a team to stay with the competition throughout their education, getting more enthusiastic as they go.
In 2008 Greenpower launched an additional project called the Corporate Challenge, where companies are asked to pit their wits against the top 15 school teams, by building and racing a car to the same regulations in an annual event. The inaugral year saw high profile entries from Bentley Motors, BBC's Blue Peter, and Renishaw plc.Not only does Greenpower approach the idea of engineering from a less mainstream direction than normal lessons or after school clubs, it also encourages creativity and most importantly enthusiasm and cooperation in problem solving: invaluable skills for any young person whether they decide to pursue an engineering career or not, and one thing's for sure, being in a Greenpower team is an experience that its members never forget.
Greenpower relies on funding from national and regional sponsors to continue and expand involving more students. If you'd like to get involved, or know of a company or organisation of whom the benefits of supporting Greenpower with the topical key themes of Education, Engineering and Environment would be of interest, please see here for details of our current sponsors and partners.