September 21, 2009
Porsche converted by students to be in spotlight during Green Week
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Jim Danielson and Sean Kleinschmidt spent the summer before their freshman year at Purdue University turning a Porsche with a blown engine into an electric-powered vehicle.Their red, 1987 924S will be one of the featured vehicles at the alternative and fuel-efficient transportation show that is part of Purdue's Green Week. The show will be from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 24) on the west side of Stewart Center.
Danielson of Arlington Heights, Ill., and Kleinschmidt of Prospect Heights, Ill., are high school friends who are now first-year engineering students. They started work on the car in late May and finished in early August.
They bought the Porsche for $500, then sold parts from it that they didn't need for about the same amount. They spent about $6,000 on the conversion. They hope to get $4,000 of that back through an Illinois program that rebates costs for alternative-power conversions.
The car runs on a deep-cycle, lead acid marine battery and a forklift motor. At this point, it can reach a speed of 55 miles an hour. But the Porsche has a range of only about 50 miles on each battery charge, so Danielson and Kleinschmidt will bring it to West Lafayette on a trailer.
The Purdue Sustainability Council is sponsoring the Green Week transportation show. It also will feature vehicles from Purdue's hybrid fleet, student-built solar race cars, a battery-powered Volkswagen Beetle built by a professor, a Volkswagen Rabbit converted to run on biodiesel fuel including used vegetable oil, and even a motorized couch.
Judged and people's choice awards will be given in the fuel-efficient and alternative-powered categories.
Alternative and fuel-efficient vehicles still can be entered in the show. To enter, e-mail Robin Ridgway, Purdue's director of sustainability and environmental stewardship, at rmridgway@purdue.edu
Also during the transportation show, the Boiler Green Initiative will offer free bicycle tune-ups.
More information on Green Week is available at https://www.purdue.edu/sustainability/
Writer: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
Sources: Robin Ridgway, 765-496-6405, rmridgway@purdue.edu
Jim Danielson, danielsj@purdue.edu
Sean Kleinschmidt, skleinsc@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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