

The Hunter Valley Electric Vehicle Festival 2017 was run by the Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment, University of Newcastle in conjunction with major sponsor RDA Hunter’s ME Program.
The EV Festival this year attracted a crowd of more than 1000 who attended the EV Prize and Mini EV Prize events at Cameron Park race track.
2017 was the seventh year that the EV Festival has been staged. It has grown into a highly anticipated event for Hunter schools as it is a fun and competitive way for local primary and high schools to enhance STEM education. In 2016 the Mini EV Prize was added to the Festival to encourage primary schools to engage in environmental sustainability themed STEM activities.
31 teams from 15 schools registered for the EV Prize event. 24 teams were registered in the Hub Class event and 7 schools registered in the Chain Class event. Detailed timing results for the EV Prize is available at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1483371.
52 teams registered for Mini EV Prize – Solar car challenge .45 teams from 10 primary schools and 7 teams from 3 High Schools. All of the high school teams participated in both the Solar Sprint (straight track) and Solar Pursuit Races (oval track). In the primary division – 13 teams nominated to be on the straight track only and 3 teams nominated to be only on the oval track. 29 teams entered both races.
THE RESULTS
Winner of the 2017 EV Prize RDA Hunter ME Program Grand Champion Prize was Toronto High School
Winner of the 2017 EV Prize Lake Macquarie City Council Endurance Cup Hub Class was Hunter Valley Grammar School
Winner of the 2017 EV Prize Mars Building Pty. Ltd. Endurance Cup Chain Class was Toronto High School
Winner of the 2017 EV Prize Rotary Charlestown Team Spirit Prize was Maitland Grossman High School
Winner of the 2017 EV Prize Core Environmental Systems Design Innovation and Entrepreneur Prize was St Philips Christian College
EV Prize Hub Class Electric Vehicle Entry with Indigenous Artwork from Callaghan College Waratah Campus Indigenous Team with Vehicle Name “Goanna”
Winner of the 2017 Mini EV Prize RDA Hunter ME Program Design Innovation and Entrepreneur Prize was Tighes Hill Public School