Session 16: 21st June 2024

This was the penultimate session before our race next week! Today, we practised slalom with the 2^nd battery for the first time! Everyone did exceptionally well! We got told that speed wasn’t the answer but accuracy was. We did our check up on the drivers (as we do every week) by checking:

• If their seatbelt was on tight enough
• If the car was turned on
• If the switch was turned on
• If they had their helmet, goggles and gloves on

We also took turns taking pictures of the drivers and pushers. And we planned our race at Goodwood next Sunday which made us all really excited.

SEE YOU AT GOODWOOD!!!!!!!

Session 15: 14th June 

After a little break for SATS, we got back to work learning to drive the car with the full power of 2 batteries.

We first started learning to control the car at speed and understanding how to brake, thinking about brake distance. WE worked out that there would be a longer amount of n=time needed to stop when it is damp or wet as the friction is lower. When it is dry, the car is more responsive to the braking as there is more friction between the wheels and the ground.

We couldn't believe the difference that one more battery made. The car goes so fast now!

We practised the drag race before progressing on to the slalom. 

Session 14: 17th May 2024

We continued with out bodywork today and it has been so fun to watch our design come to life.

 

 

Session 13: 10th May 2024

Today, we continued with our body work, this time adding the acrylic paint to our design.

  

  

  

Session 12:  3rd May 2024

Today we were focused on the bodywork. We started by tracing the turtle we made last week onto the bamboo base, then drew over it in sharpie whilst some over people finished off their graffiti for the car. Other than that it was really fun but we didn’t do as much as we wanted to.

 

Session 11: 26th April 2024

This week the GreenPower team have been busy. We have been measuring and cutting the bamboo we bought to use as the car’s bodywork. We are aiming to start colouring and painting the bodywork next week once we have attached it to our car.

Instead of doing our original shark design we have moved onto a new turtle design which fits in with the rest of our theme brilliantly.

We also tested the paints we are going to use and we finalised our design and cut it down to size so it fits.

To conclude, this was a very successful meeting and we hope to have our bodywork on soon.

We were even lucky enough to get a go using a saw to chop the bamboo! 

  

 

  

  

Session 10: April 19th 2024

It was an exciting week, getting back to our GreenPower sessions after the Easter Break. Charlotte and Lucas took time in their holidays to make these amazing turtles, which we are going to add to our car design.

  

Our whole design this year is based around the turtle so we felt it would give our design impacts to have some mascots to add to the car!!

This week was all about design. We got into three groups with some focussing on the body work design, some on the wording and some measuring up the car ready to start cutting out body work next week.

Our bodywork designs:

    

Our font designs:

      

 Measuring up:

  

Session 9: March 22nd 2024

It was a big day today... our T-Shirts arrived from our sponsor 'Love Your Logo' We are so pleased with how they have turned out.

  

It was our first try at slalom racing today, so we first walked the course to understand the racing line.

 

Next, we drove the slalom. We realised how important it is to keep our hand over the brake so we can use our quick reactions when needed.

 

Session 8:  March 15th 2024

It was drive day again today.  The drive wheel was fixed and we checked the car and it's brakes were safe before we started.

We took turns being pusher and driver. As pusher we were instructed to give three strong pushes from the rear of the car before letting go and letting the car drive on its own. The pusher also needs to check the driver's safety (that they won't bang their head on the dashboard when they brake.

 

  

  

WE also found our a bit more about current.

 

Session 7: March 8th 2024

We started the session with great news... we found out that we have secured 2 sponsorships.

     

This session we learnt about the need of safety around the green power car and the objects needed to do so such as us having to wear a helmet, gloves and goggles. We also need to make sure that our skin is covered and that our hair is tied back and tucked into our clothes, whist driving. 

We learnt that the car needs a pusher as well and they are not only incharge of pushing the car but also in charge of the safety of the driver, checking that all their safety gear is on and checked before turning the car on ready to drive. 

Tanisha was the first to drive and got the hang of it very quickly, learning to stear and brake effectively. Next up was Samson, with a great drive. 

 

Unfortunately, during our last drive of the day, the brakes failed. Luckily, we only had one battery in due to us learning how the drive felt for the first time, so it was very controlled and easy to roll stop. We thought at first it was the brake cable needing to be tightened but with further investigation, we realised that the drive wheel rod had sheared off, which meant that the wheel continued to spin on the axle after braking. This will be rectified next week before our driving continues.

Session 6: March 1st 2024

We thought about our t-shirt design. We liked the font (Ravie) we also shared our sponsor letters to local companies including

• love your logo
• herd van hire
• McLaren

 

Today we listened to Mr. T and Mrs. George, we also thought about how the car works and the scrutineers and their role about checking our car at the start of the race.

We saw that the 2 12-volt batteries (24 volts in total) power the car. The car will reach 15 mph to power the motor.

   

Belt- rubber with teeth which makes it grip to the ground to stop the car from slipping. They fit inside the wheel of the motor.

There is only 1 wheel that is driven by the motor. If there is no power going towards the motor, the car will stop. We looked at the brake and saw how it worked. 

We also looked at the electronics of the car. First the key, we tried the key so we knew how it worked, as this is an important for the pusher. When the key is turned, it closes the circuit so that the car can move.

   

There is a lot of current (amps) there are relays and a fuse. A fuse can brake the circuit. This is some metal in the fuse which would melt and brake the circuit if the current becomes too much. It means the fuse is a very useful safety feature.

As a driver, you would switch the switch allocated by the wheel to complete the circuit.

Batteries have 2 terminals- red= +v.e and black= - v.e. this week our homework is to find a definition of what an electrical current is. We also have to do a power point about our ocean to showcase in the summer.

  

Session 5: February 23rd 2024

 

This week, we spent the first part of the session to share our ideas for our sponsorship letters. We have written letters to Herd, Love Your Logo, McLaren and Mercedes. When we read them out they sounds very persuasive so we are really happy with what we have produced. Fingers crossed the companies come back with some positive news. 

  

Next, we looked at our T-shirt logo. We chose a blue background to represent the ocean, a turtle logo along with our moto and flag logo. We can't wait to share this with Love Your Logo to bring it into reality. 

 

  

Finally, we looked at our car design and thought about trying to get a local vinyl wrap companies to help us achieve this design. We feel it is really eye catching! 

  

For the second part of our session we finish the build of the car, getting the seat and seatbelt in place and double checking that all the bolts were tight. 

  

  

Session 4: February 2nd 2024

Today we presented our story, slogan and logo to Mrs George and Mr Tanton. we talked about sending sponsorship letters to local companies like love your Logo, Mclaren, Stonegate and Thames water.

We then checked that all the bolts were tight. Some people also worked on the front of the car. We secured the seat on the car with nuts, bolts and washers.

Then we discussed who would design

• T- shirts,
• the frame of the body work
• the sponsorship letters.

It was an informative day! 

  

   

  

Session 3: January 26th 2024

Today was a building day.

When we first arrived, we went straight onto building the car.

We started to identify

• Nuts
• Bolts
• Washers

We also needed to find the correct Allen keys and spanners. Because we used teamwork, we were all very efficient at the building. We finished the chair and started the bodywork. At one point, we made a mistake with the bolts on the chair but identified this, reflected and improved. We found out how useful open ended spanners are when tightening  bolts in a tight space.

Overall, this has been a very successful day!

 

  

  

Hard at work getting our slogan and logo ready for  next week.

  

These are some of the ideas that we have come up with so far. This week, we are going to work with these ideas and create our final logo, slogan and message, ready for next week.

 

 

 

 

Session 2: January 19th 2024

Today in GreenPower we started to build the main body of the car, using bolts, spanners ,screws and washers. At the beginning, we were talking about our slogan for being green.

Our GreenPower message was to save our oceans and save the creatures in it. We looked at the diagram of the car which told us were the bolts, washers and screws were located.

We shared our ideas around as a group,  these were

. saving our seas

. buying local

. using re- usable items

. carbon footprint

. reduce pollution

We all agreed that we should do it based on saving the ocean and reduce pollution going into our seas.

Miss George and Mr Tanton told us that the battery is placed at the back of the car which gives extra weight at the back which gives more traction.

The motor of the car is battery powered (like batteries from a from a mobility scooter) ,but it's had some upgrades so it's faster than an average mobility scooter (around 15 miles an hour). Today we learnt also about how we need to add 1 washer to either side of nuts and bolts to spread the pressure (increase the surface area).

 

 

 

   

Session 1: January 12th 2024

Today was our first GreenPower session and we were all really excited.

Firstly, we introduced ourselves.

• Tanisha
• Samson
• Timmy
• Elliott
• Charlotte
• Joseph
• Lucas

What is GreenPower?

GreenPower is an organisation where we design and build a strong and healthy car (good for the environment) and give it a green message for it to have unique design.

What we learnt

Once we had introduced ourselves, we learnt about the car. We found out that the car was powered by an electric battery. This is a green way of powering cars. We also found out that the car was made out steel because it is a secure, strong and safe metal. Secondly, the metal has holes (to make it lighter) and a roll bar to protect our heads. Surprisingly, the car only has a start and a brake but no gears.

Health and Safety

When driving the car, we always wear a helmet, gloves, goggles and an overall. Equally important, we wear seat belts. Whenever we drive the car, we need to remember the following rules:

• STOP
• LOOK
• LISTEN
• THINK

We also need to bear in mind that GreenPower is a team and we work together.

Bodywork/our story

The body of our car needs to be light and aerodynamic, but we also need it to tell a story and give a green and inspiring message to others. So far, we have come up with an ocean theme asking the question: Which future do you want? We may want to also compare a healthy ocean to a polluted ocean.