Power Drive

The Power Drive program has a long history in Nebraska. Beginning with its founding by the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) in the 1998-1999 school year, thousands of students have participated. Many other partners joined in, most notably the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), shortly after the initial program began. They operated a great program that grew very successfully over the years.

Power Drive is highly educational, but don’t tell that to its students! They believe it’s an enjoyable and creative outlet that lets them design, build, compete (and sometimes repair!), small electric-powered vehicles against other teams. Several rallies are organized each year so these teams can show off their creations across multiple events.

EVERON

The 2015 season was the last in which OPPD and NPPD took ownership of the Power Drive program. Many people believe the program is too valuable to let it lapse. Several teams have banded together now to create a new corporate owner of the Power Drive program. We’ve formed the Electric Vehicle Energy Research Of Nebraska (EVERON) corporation, a Nebraska non-profit company that will oversee the program. 

EVERON is a Nebraska based non-profit corporation 501(c)(3), whose aim is to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Its primary means of doing so is the Power Drive program, in which students design, build, and compete in small electric vehicles. These competitions are conducted in organized rallies, primarily in Nebraska Since its inception in the 1998-1999 school year, the Power Drive programs has seen thousands of students build hundreds of electric vehicles. Many of these students have gone on to careers in engineering, automotive, aeronautics, vocational trades, and many other endeavors. The Power Drive experience has helped them learn to apply the lessons of the classroom to real-world problems, such as how to build a car from scratch, make it move, and then how to make it move well.