The Rice Electric Vehicle team gets ready to race

The student-run Rice Electric Vehicle Team represents all academic years and over 10 different majors.

The Rice Electric Vehicle Team unveiled its competition car March 31 outside the Abercrombie Laboratory for the upcoming Shell Eco-Marathon Americas, an international competition which scores vehicles based on their energy efficiency. The student-run organization designed and constructed the car from carbon fiber over the past two years; the vehicle runs on a 48-volt battery and can achieve speeds of 30 miles per hour. El Desafiador, or “The Challenger,” will be shipped to Sonoma, Calif., for the marathon, where it will compete April 19 to 22 against 150 other high school and university teams’ electric vehicles. (Photo by Katharine Shilcutt)