A team of students from Seat’s Apprentice School in Spain have designed, developed and built a trophy winning electric go-kart.
Their efforts have been recognised by FP Emprèn, an organisation that rewards vocational training schools in and around the city of Barcelona.
The team also picked up second place in the Kart Academy race, held at Barcelona-Catalunya circuit — robbed of first after engine problems.
The Kart Academy is a competition open to teams of students from automotive training institutes and schools in Catalonia.
Their goal is to design, build and compete with a kart they themselves have developed, working together to comply with the rules and generate the necessary financial support to carry out their project.
The students are in their second year of Machining and Electromechanical Maintenance.
Head of training Laura Carnicero said the success of the electric kart project shows the school teaches the necessary technological skills for the automotive industry of the future, enabling students to become entrepreneurial, competitive professionals.
The project was led by three students, with the help of others who fabricated previously designed parts in Seat production facilities.
They were supervised by professors who helped with technical solutions to any problems encountered.
Measuring 1.74 metres long and 1.36 metres wide, the kart is powered by a 5.5kW engine and equipped with a 48V battery.
The competition program featured braking, accelerating, endurance and slalom and gathered teams from a dozen training schools in the area of automotives.
Starting this year the Seat vocational training centre has completely overhauled its training program, switching from middle-level vocational training courses to a wider range of advanced degree courses tailored to the needs required by the transformation of industry and digitalisation.
TRhe average course in Spain is about 2000 hours, while the Seat Apprentice School offers almost 5000 class hours, making it possible to include a large amount of content on the latest technology.
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