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Eliminated
Failure to meet minimum 67 MPGe requirement for on-road fuel efficiency.
EVX GT (22)
Team Leader: Simon Hauger
Team Website: www.evxteam.org
Powertrain: Hybrid
Fuel Type: Biodiesel
Design: Conversion
Class: Alternative (Side by Side)
The data are approximations for informational purposes only and may not reflect actual metrics used to score entrants.
Eliminated
Failure to meet minimum 67 MPGe requirement for on-road fuel efficiency.
EVX Focus (21)
Team Leader: Simon Hauger
Team Website: www.evxteam.org
Powertrain: Plug-in Hybrid Electric
Fuel Type: Gasoline
Design: Conversion
Class: Mainstream
The data are approximations for informational purposes only and may not reflect actual metrics used to score entrants.

Team Bio

The West Philly Hybrid X Team (EVX Team) includes students from an after school program of the Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, a program of Philadelphia Academies, Inc. We are based in West Philadelphia High School, a public high school serving one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the city of Philadelphia.

For the last twelve years, under the guidance of Team Director Simon Hauger, the EVX Team has built and raced alternative fuel vehicles, achieving remarkable success. As entrants in the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's Tour de Sol, we outperformed university teams and production vehicles, winning the competition in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

The students are assisted and mentored by a group of teachers and other adults who bring engineering expertise, business acumen and professional networks to the work of building cars and creating opportunities and options for Team members. Key support has come from Drexel University, and the many professionals affiliated with Philadelphia Academies, Inc.

The Team has worked in the alternative fuel vehicle arena for over a decade. The PIAXP was the next big challenge for the Team. The challenge was huge; greater than we could have imagined. The PIAXP has driven us to examine an entirely new set of issues. While we had a long history of success in building efficient cars, we have now jumped into the world of green jobs, sustainable manufacturing, car sharing and environmental activism with both feet. To say that we got splashed when jumped would be an understatement. The objectives of the Team have expanded exponentially. We must build cars, be prepared to launch a viable business while we continue to support our student Team members as they grow from shy and gangly teenagers into skilled automotive technicians, college students, activists and entrepreneurs.

Student Team members work side by side with teachers to assemble vehicle components -- and the vehicles themselves in our school shop. They polish their public speaking and writing skills in the classroom and after school with Toastmasters International. They meet with business and industry leaders to learn about manufacturing and green jobs. Then, they put the knowledge and skills they have acquired to use as they leverage the Team's resources in meetings with political, community and business leaders as they push our work forward and raise awareness about the critical issues they are addressing.

The adults bring an extraordinary level of knowledge and expertise to the work of the Team. Our most senior technical advisors have decades of automotive experience. Drexel University students and their advisors add cutting edge technology to the project. Our professional supports from Philadelphia Academies, Inc. and their business partners round out our Team.

For more information on West Philly Hybrid X (EVX Team), check out the team's coverage on ConsumerReports.org

Simon Hauger

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
Role on team: Team Leader
How did you become involved in the team?
The Team was started as an after-school program to engage students around math and science. We have built and competed with alternative fuel vehicles since 1998.

Annual Dessert Reception

March 22, 2013

We are headed back to Watkins Glen for the Green Grand Prix on April 19, 2013.  In case you’re counting we have only a couple of weeks to get the car ready, the team prepared, and the arrangements made. It’s doable. The trick is to not look at everything else that’s on the Sustainability Workshop calendar.   Good thing that we work well under pressure.  We have an entirely new team this year made up of students from Benjamin Franklin, South Philadelphia, and Furness High Schools. We’re looking forward to getting them hooked on g... more »

Simon Revs up Students

January 30, 2013

Last year the EVX Team spent three days at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC. It was just us, the GT, and a couple hundd thousand science geeks.  That’s where the IEEE  interviewed Simon Hauger. Read the interview and watch the video here.   We were invited to exhibit our car at the Festival through our friends at the Conrad Foundation. The EVX Team and the Sustainability Workshop participate in the annual Spirit of Innovation Awards that the Foundation sponsors. The competition challenges high school students ... more »

Rain

July 20, 2012

We need much more rain. Whenever it rains on a Friday, I always think of my college roommate Sam Hauptman. She loved rainy Fridays. She was a strong and vivacious student in one of the toughest accounting programs in Philadelphia. By Friday, she was exhausted. A rainy Friday was an excuse to slow down. This was a demanding week at the Sustainability Workshop. It was hot. The students are getting antsy with their projects because more challenges surface in medias res. One of my favorite students to sit across from is Kenrick. His facia... more »

Another Green Grand Prix Victory!

July 13, 2012

The EVX Team had an incredibly busy spring. In April we returned to Watkins Glen to compete in the Green Grand Prix, another great competition for the Team.     Watkins Glen is a beautiful and historic NASCAR track in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The first day we were on the track where we achieved 98 MPG against an eclectic group of alternative fuel vehicles. It was great to see the wide variety of cars, trucks and motorcycles on the track. It was a glorious, sunny day. The next day was the 105 mile road rally that circled La... more »

EVX Team on PBS

July 13, 2012

Philadelphia filmmaker Debbie Morton followed the EVX Team for two years as we competed in the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. Her documentary, Fast Times at West Philly High, premiered on Frontline this week and can now be seen on-line.     Students and teachers from West Philadelphia High School, a public high school serving one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in Philadelphia, defy expectations as they design and build two super-hybrid cars for international competition and compete for the chance to be part of a technological... more »

Join the EVX Team at WHYY on March 20, 2012

March 14, 2012

Join the EVX Team at WHYY studios for a free screening of Revenge of the Electric Car. By 2006, thousands of modern electric cars were destroyed by the same auto companies who  built them. Now, only a few years later, the electric car is back from the dead, championed by a  handful of people determined to remake the future. Join for a FREE screening of Revenge of the Electric Car followed by a presentation on the basics of electric car design by the EVX Team, an award winning group of Philadelphia high school students that have built... more »