Driven students at Stockland Green School are getting behind the wheel of the electric vehicle revolution – by building their own car.

Pupils at the school are set to re-enter the Green Power scheme, a global project that encourages teams from schools to test their engineering, teamwork and design skills, to create a vehicle they can drive in competition.

The school first got involved in the scheme back in 2019, when they built a car sponsored by Erdington-based Jaguar.

Now the vehicle is coming out of the garage for another generation of students to roll up their sleeves and get it back on the road.

Science teacher Tom Surridge (pictured on right), who is leading the regular after-school Green Power Car Club, explained: “The school first got involved back in 2013-14, when we were lucky to get a grant from Green Power, which provided not only the basic components of a vehicle, but also some funding to help pay for equipment and tools.

“In 2019 I took over the club, with the aim of getting it up-and-running again, but then unfortunately COVID hit and we weren’t able to really go for it.

“Now we’re getting back on track. We’ve had loads of interest from the pupils and the scheme really encourages them to engage with STEM subjects.”

The Stockland Green car is now drivable, although club members still need to design and manufacture the streamlined shell to go over its metal frame.

Under the Green Power scheme, inter-school races are staged at tracks around the country in an annual season that runs from March to October, where students not only drive the electric cars – which reach around 30 miles per hour – but also form the pit crews and technical teams.

Student Gurtej Birdi (pictured on left) is a keen member of the club and has got behind the wheel on short test runs at the school site.

Gurtej said: “I helped with the electrics part of the car, and the wheels, and other parts of the car. I’ve had a go at driving it and it’s fast, and it handles well – the brakes are good!”

Mr Surridge said: “Our main goal is to have the car entered into one of the inter-school competitions that are run by Green Power, to race against other schools across the country.

“We’re looking for sponsorship to help us achieve this, so if there are any companies out there that are interested in helping and having their name on the side of the car, we want to hear from them.”