ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – 50 teams from 21 schools across the state made their way to Kennedy Middle School Saturday for the New Mexico Electric Car Challenge. 

“We’ve all been liking engineering class with Mr. McGuinness, and we all heard about it, and we were like ‘Can we get in? Can we do it?’” said Emma Findell, a Roosevelt Middle School student. 

Teams were judged on their design and speed on a 10-meter-long track.

“We have to present a design presentation about a car and how it worked, and we also have to do a research presentation about how to reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing of a car,” said Raul Valenzuela a P.R. Leyva Middle School student. 

Sandia National Laboratories has been putting on the competition for 15 years with the hope of inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“I really like seeing when teams are at the track, and they are having a rough day, and then they make some small changes to their car and all of a sudden everything clicks for them, and their car goes down the track. They are so excited when their car makes it to the end, they see their score, and it gets up on the big board, and they get ranked,” said Daniel Riley, a lead track scorekeeper with Sandia National Labs. 

The winning team gets a $350 exploration package from Explora and walks away with some hardware. 

For more information on the New Mexico Electric Car Challenge, click here.