Many people are familiar with the solar car races that involve college students nationwide. This weekend, there’s an -electric- car race in Iowa for Midwestern high schoolers.Elizabeth Plasket is energy educator for the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. Today’s 4th annual Alliant Energy Electrathon will be held at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids. She says it’s a great learning experience for the students.Plasket says 18 high schools are taking part in today’s races with 35 cars entered. Teams are entered from Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin.It’s an endurance race. The cars will be allowed to run for one hour each with careful attention to how many miles they travel. Some go at speeds of 40 miles an hour. Plasket says these electric cars are -not- like the ones we sometimes see on the street. She says these cars are one-person vehicles that’re very streamlined. The gates open at 8 a-m and the races begin at 11.
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