SUNY Broome electric car on the track at Watkins Glen
SUNY Broome electric car on the track at Watkins Glen

The SUNY Broome Electrical Engineering Technology Department and the IEEE student club will celebrate their win at the 2019 Toyota Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International Raceway at a May 20 ceremony.

Broome County Executive Jason Garnar will join campus officials for a press conference and student recognition ceremony at 12 p.m. Monday, May 20, in the Applied Technology Building atrium. Afterward, the team’s electric car will be on display outside the Applied Technology Building for viewing and demonstrations.


The student team designed and built the electric car that won the grand prize on April 5 for Most Efficient Vehicle. The team used 18.8 kWh of electricity to travel approximately 100 miles, besting production vehicles such as Teslas, Priuses, Chevy Volts and other hybrids.

The owner of Sarnicola Simulation Systems originally converted the Chevy Metro to electric and then donated it to the Techworks Museum. Stored in a parking lot, the car was subsequently vandalized and ended up at SUNY Broome in need of some TLC.

The student team, under the guidance of Professor Gary DiGiacomo, set out to fix the car and meet design goals of having a range of 100 miles at an average speed of 45 mph. Students installed a new battery pack, low-power LED lights and a new third brake light, as well as instrumentation to monitor energy use.

Sponsors for the project included RedBarn, HackerThreads, BAE Systems, Raymond Corp and the IEEE club at SUNY Broome.