Bluevale C.I. Builds Electric Vehicles with 3D Printed Parts and Wins Waterloo EV Challenge

Local Kitchener-Waterloo high school, Bluevale Collegiate Institute has been a longtime advocate for 3D printing in high school. They added an InkSmith Cubicon Single Plus 3D printer to their tech department back in 2018. Since then, teachers and students at the high school have been using 3D printing for a number of student creations and projects. Most notably, a group of B.C.I. students used a number of 3D printed parts to build their Electric Vehicle for the University of Waterloo's EV Competition. 

The Waterloo High School Electric Vehicle (EV) Challenge which is hosted by Waterloo Engineering, encourages students to design and test their own electric cars in an annual endurance competition. The competition consisted of two races, one for 12V cars and the other for 24V cars. The race took place on May 25th, 2019 in the University of Waterloo's parking lot.  

After three competitive races, Bluevale came out on top in both the 12v and 24v classes. Jamie Cox, tech teacher at Bluevale, accredits the success to teamwork, preparation, and a great design. Team members of the Electric Vehicle club used their CAD modeling skills and 3D printing knowledge to design and print a series of parts of their EV cars. Using 3D printing allowed the team to custom design parts for their vehicle, giving them a competitive edge. One of those 3D printed components was a mirror holder for their car, seen in the images below.

The student team, who has been working on the EV challenge all year, was ecstatic about their win in the university competition. While Jamie Cox says they couldn't have done it without InkSmith, it's students and teachers like those at Bluevale C.I. that make it all worth it!

Congratulations to the team at Bluevale on your well-deserved win. We're looking forward to seeing what the Electric Vehicle Club at Bluevale delivers next year.