Freshman wins electric car

By Margeux Clemmons     4/9/09 7:00pm

Move over electric slide; Lovett College freshman Josh Rutenberg, winner of the Miles Revolution Contest, is dancing to the hum of an electric car. The contest, hosted by the Miles Electric Vehicles company, which manufactures fully electric vehicles, awarded a $1,000 scholarship to a student based on which entrant's video, centered on the electric car, received the most views on YouTube. Rutenberg's three-minute video trumped the other 14 competing videos by gaining 20,000 hits by the end of the competition in March. In addition to providing Rutenberg with the scholarship, the company presented a ZX40S electric car to Rice University.

Rutenberg, an environmental engineering major, said he entered the competition in high school after learning about it on a scholarship search engine. In addition to fulfilling Rutenberg's videography class requirements at the time, the contest allowed him to utilize two years' worth of videography studies.

"I really enjoyed the fact that the contest combined videography and the environment, because those are two things I'm really interested in," he said.

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Rice Director of Sustainbility Richard Johnson facilitated the donation of the car, which will be used by Rice Emergency Medical Services. Rutenberg said EMS was in need of a new transportation vehicle for on-campus driving and that he was excited the car was being used for such an appropriate, philanthropic purpose.

"One of the disadvantages of this car is that it's not really meant for regular driving," Rutenberg said. "However, while it does have some limitations, it worked perfectly with Rice EMS' needs. The car reaches about 30 miles per hour, is strong enough to carry all the supplies EMS might need and I'm glad that it's going to their organization. I think there's probably not a better organization that it could go to."

Johnson also organized a ceremony for the presentation of the car, which took place Tuesday in the Kelley Lounge of the Rice Memorial Center and ended with a showing of the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

During the event Miles Electric Vehicles Regional Sale Manager Ken See presented the car and Rutenberg spoke on the video-making process and the significance of Rice's acceptance of the car.

Rutenberg said that while the car has some attractive qualities - it is capable of driving 50-60 miles per charge for only 60 cents - it still takes four to five hours to charge and has not been developed completely for a multitude of political and technological reasons.

"[The electric car] hasn't been given enough focus," he said. "Once you work on the logistics of being able to handle a heavier load and also the amount to which the car is able to be charged, then it becomes a feasible option."

Although the electric car has yet to hit the highway commercially, it will soon be spotted regularly on the Inner Loop, small and white with a Rice logo printed on the side.

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