Ziyad Salameh

With the price of crude oil steadily rising and concern about global warming continuing to grow, motorists across the country are looking for a more economical and environmentally friendly means of transportation.

This spring, nearly 300 seventh- and eighth-grade students at Nock Middle School in Newburyport, along with their teachers, got a glimpse of the wave of the future when Electrical Engineering Prof. Ziyad Salameh brought an all-electric car to the campus during his presentation about the importance of renewable energy sources and the outlook for electric propulsion vehicles.

Salameh’s talk at Nock was part of the Institution for Savings Science Speakers Series, which aims to enhance the students’ science learning. A recognized leader in hybrid (wind/photovoltaic) systems, storage batteries, and electric vehicle technology, Salameh is co-director of UMass Lowell’s Center for Electric Car and Energy Conversion. Recently, he has been invited to give lectures and chair technical sessions at international conferences in Kuwait City, Kuwait; Harbin, China; Fukuoka, Japan; and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Nock’s principal, Barry Hopping, was delighted that Salameh could share his time and expertise with the school’s future scientists, engineers and inventors. Salameh concluded his talk with a short demonstration, driving the noise-free, zero-emission compact car around the school’s courtyard and parking lot.

The car, which Salameh designed and built himself, is powered by a dozen lead-acid batteries under the hood and in the trunk. He’s been using it to commute daily between his home and office since 1994. “It’s very reliable,” he said. “There is no need for maintenance. You don’t need to go to the gas station for lube and oil change or mufflers – nothing.”

According to Salameh, the automotive industry still has to overcome the two biggest drawbacks of these green vehicles: their limited driving range and the long charging times required for the batteries. “Once you have solved these technical issues, then the car makers can mass-produce them and bring down the sticker price,” he said. Salameh also pointed out the need to setup charging stations across the country. He is trying to find eco-friendly ways to charge the cars, such as tapping wind or solar energy.

Japan is currently the market leader in hybrid cars, which run on both electricity and gasoline, and the U.S. has been lagging behind in the field. China has now adopted plans to turn the country into one of the world’s leading producers of hybrid and all-electric cars and buses by 2012.

Hopping and Salameh hope that innovative projects, such as the electric car, will captivate the young students’ imagination and spark a lifelong interest in science and engineering and, hopefully, help the U.S. regain its technological edge and competitiveness.

You can read more about Salameh’s presentation at Nock in The Newburyport News. You can also view more photos in Christin Walth’s Snapfish album.

- Edwin_Aguirre

Nock Middle School students listen to Prof. Salameh as he explains the virtues of an electric-powered car.

Prof. Salameh shows students the car’s electric motor.