High school students in Sacramento work to convert lowrider to an electric vehicle
High school students in Sacramento County are working on converting a classic lowrider to an electric car.
Organizers said this would be the first vehicle of its kind in California, promoting a pathway to clean energy and jobs for an underserved community.
Students at Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy are paving a path to history, and it starts with a 1964 Chevy Impala.
"I always thought they were pretty cool, and when I found out we were going to be building one, and we were going to be one of the first ones to EV swap it, I got super excited," said Brandt Smedstad, a student at SAVA.
Students at SAVA are learning hands-on skills and gaining confidence. They're taking the combustion engine and turning it electric. For some students, making a classic car "modern" took a little convincing.
"I didn’t like the idea at first. It's a lowrider — who would want to do that to a lowrider, but now that we're starting to work on it, we've got our plans planned out, the drawings, the blue board. Its starting to come together," Victoria Arellano, a student at SAVA said.
Jaime Lemus, climate change manager for the Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District, understands the hesitation.
"Not all community members can afford these zero-emission vehicles, particularly in a lot of the underserved communities," Lemus said. "When we start looking at the cars that our community is used to being into, like lowriders, and then we start transforming them into zero-emission vehicles, that gets everybody excited," Lemus said.
The class is investing in students while helping the city meet its zero carbon goals by 2030.
"The first thing our students need to understand is what careers are out there, and not just today, but what careers are to be out there 10 years, 15 years, 20 years from now," said Mori Elliot, SAVA executive director of educational programs.
These students are building clean careers and a brighter future for people in their community.
A ban on cruising was lifted in the City of Sacramento last year. Assembly Bill 436 is now making its way through the California Legislature. If passed, it would prohibit local authorities from stopping drivers from cruising and driving cars that have been lowered to a certain height.
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