A female team of Devon students are gearing up for a busy season of races with all-electric cars they’ve built with help from National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED).

The 14 to 16-year-olds from Ivybridge Community College will be taking to the track at circuits around Cornwall to test their engineering and driving skills against hundreds of other teams taking part in the Greenpower Challenge.

Every year about 10,000 young people participate in the Greenpower Challenge, which aims to boost enthusiasm about science and engineering by getting them to design, build and race an electric car.

NGED has provided financial backing as well as engineering advice to the 20-strong Ivybridge team which has two single-seater battery-powered cars called 'Vector' and 'Spare Parts', with a third in production called 'Rustiane'.

The students, who are from years 9, 10 and the sixth form, are all members of the college’s Girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) club, where they learn mechanical and electronic skills.

Currently, they are working on upgrades to brakes and bearings to be ready for two heats coming up at RMB Chivenor and Predannack. Ivybridge Community College’s design and technology teacher and STEM lead Luke Skorka-Brown said: “We have a good group of students working hard on improving the cars every week. Girls in STEM has really given female students a great opportunity to experience the world of STEM that they may not have felt comfortable exploring before.

“We’ve seen more students take up maths and physics-based subjects and as a result of these opportunities also applying for STEM-based work experience. We are also engaging with ex-Ivybridge students working in STEM careers to share their knowledge with current students.”

NGED’s Vanessa Buxton said: “The Greenpower Challenge is a tremendous way to encourage the potential engineers of tomorrow by stimulating interest in STEM subjects in a practical and fun way.”