UF’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department recently received a gift from a private donor in the form of a car.
Joe Harris, a civil engineer and owner of Harris Civil Engineers, donated an electric 1996 Mazda Miata to the department. He chose UF because his brother, John Harris, is the chair of the department.
Joe Harris changed the convertible from a gasoline-powered two-seater into a car that runs an average of 26 miles on 10 12-volt batteries.
He decided to convert the car after his friends complained of it having engine problems. Their options were to buy a new engine or buy a new car. Joe Harris’ daughter, who was 14 at the time, suggested buying it and converting it into an electric car.
Joe Harris said the project, which cost about $7,000, “took three or four months of studying and ordering parts on the Internet.”
The original plan was for Joe Harris to get the car into working condition and give it to his kids to drive once they got their licenses. He ended up driving it to work for two years, and during that time he tested the car’s boundaries when it came to power. Joe Harris said he had experiences driving to downtown Orlando and the car almost died.
“Most light poles and shopping centers have outlets to plug it in,” he said. “I’d usually ask people if I could charge up first.”
The problem was managing the battery power of the car. The batteries in the car would not charge and discharge evenly, causing them to burn out faster. Joe Harris went through three sets of burned-out batteries before he started to look for an alternative.
“Should I buy more batteries or should I just sell the car?” Joe Harris said.
But he decided to donate it. He said he knows electric cars are the future, but batteries are not the way to go right now.
“I’m hoping that a smart group of people will be able to figure it out,” he said.
John Harris said this car will be a campus vehicle and will get people excited about electrical engineering.
“If we only wanted an electric car we would go out and buy one. We want to play with it,” John Harris said.
He wants to see the car being experimented on and used by students in the engineering field. The car is currently being worked on by a mechanic to bring it up to driving condition standards, but it should be on campus within a few weeks.
