Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team of Kids and the Race to Build the Car of the Future

By Caroline Kettlewell

Book Overview

When Berkeley graduate Eric Ryan was sent by Teach for America to a hardscrabble high school in the heart of North Carolina's NASCAR country, he didn't count on Harold Miller -- a big guy with a big laugh and a tarheel accent as thick as sorghum syrup -- sticking his head into his class one morning and announcing, "Hey Mr. Ryan, we're gonna build an electric car." Two regional utilities had challenged a group of elite schools throughout the South to design and build battery-powered electric vehicles to be judged during a final contest at NASCAR's Richmond International Raceway. Although Ryan's underprivileged high school was not on the list, Miller managed to squeak them in. With a Ford Escort rescued from the compacter, a few hundred pounds of scavenged golf cart batteries, a local minor league NASCAR driver as coach, and the local constabulary looking the other way as the reborn "Shocker" began careening over back roads on test runs, the kids get their pasted-together dark horse to the big contest in Richmond. Electric Dreams offers drama built on marvelous small-town characters, and a story of never-say-die invention which would make North Carolina's other pioneers, the Wright Brothers, proud.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786712716
• ISBN13: 9780786712717
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Inspiration for a country looking to "Do the right thing"

Caroline Kettlewell has captured the nature of the EV Challenge in perpetuity and written a book that shows how every one of us can make a huge difference if we just find the right inspiration.

An exciting and true story of determination and true grit

Berkeley graduate Eric Ryan's journey to North Carolina to an improvised high school where his encounter with Harold Miller would lead to an electric car's design and development would change his life. Electric Dreams: One Unlikely Team Of Kids And The Race To Build The Car Of The Future documents how an unlikely band of kids would build the car of the future in the heart of NASCAR country, beating the odds to win a high school competition. An exciting and true story of determination and true grit - and fast cars.

THE UNDERDOG TRIUMPHS

The quality of writing and the humaness of this story should tickle the cockles of your heart as it did mine as this is all about the underdog achieving the impossible. You will become part of the team to crete an electric car from absolutely nothing using the expertise of a few noble men who had to learn while on-the-job. This is done by a handful of teachers in a high school located in Northampton County, North Cajrolina noted for its majority of "poor people." The students are the drivers and the teachers the guiders in a story that makes you feel good all over with a group of young people that overcome being made fun of and do accomplish the impossible.

The way nonfiction oughta be

It's not necessary to have any particular interest in electric automobiles, or any sort of automobiles, to thoroughly enjoy this engaging book. It's as much about people daring to dream and bucking the odds as it is about cars (though Ms. Kettlewell does make a compelling case for the development of electric cars, and an even more compelling one to stop being dependent on oil). The author had a great cast of characters to work with, and she really makes these kids and their teachers, and their struggle to build a viable electric auto, come alive. The prose here is almost electric, the way it sparkles and zings, and the final scenes, in which the students put their car through the paces on an honest-to-God NASCAR track will have you squirming with tension and body English and rooting for these underdogs to triumph. A sterling example of how a real life story, when it's written well, can outshine fiction.

An Inspiring Story of Overcoming Obstacles and Perceptions

Caroline Kettlewell has written an inspirational book that captures the essence of the people behind the successful and now world-renowned electric car team from northeastern North Carolina.From the old codger shop teacher Harold Miller, to the young, energetic educator from California, Eric Ryan, Kettlewell has painted a lifelike picture of the people involved in this project. These are people you begin to care about as the story unfolds.It's evident from reading this book that only Divine Intervention many times along the way made the project successful. If John Parker had not been friends with Miller and knew that he had been interested in building an electric car for quite some time, Miller would never have been chosen. If Ryan had not decided to move to a rural community in North Carolina and live with Parker, the project clearly would not have been successful. If Randy Shillingburg had not known Parker and had faith in his friends in North Carolina, the project would never have even begun. And if the wonderful group of students and other teachers had not decided to devote their free time on evenings and weekends, the team's electric car would never have been completed on time.Kettlewell's story also makes a strong environmental statement. Her book questions how a group of students and teachers from poor, rural schools could build an environmental-friendly vehicle -- while the nation's automakers are reluctant to do the same a decade later.Electric Dreams is a true story that makes one think, while providing an inspirational message for anyone who believes that obtacles can be overcome and students from even the poorest, most rural schools can be successful.