Ohio State's Buckeye Bullet Sets New National Speed Record

COLUMBUS - Ohio State University's Buckeye Bullet electric car today
broke the record for the fastest speed by an electric vehicle, with a
speed of 257 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The
former national record was 251.3 mph.

The vehicle, which was designed, built and managed by a team of
engineering students at the university's Center for Automotive
Research-Intelligent Transportation (CAR-IT) traveled to Bonneville
this week to attempt to break the record for the fastest speed
achieved by an electric car. It is the team's third trip to Utah to
make a run at the record.

To break the national speed record, the Buckeye Bullet completed two
certified runs reaching speeds averaging 257 miles per hour. For the
first of the two runs, the car was clocked at 271 miles per hour.

The streamlined vehicle is 30 feet long, two feet wide and stands less
than three feet tall; the 500 horsepower electric motor is powered by
more than 12,000 nickel-metal hydride batteries.

The Buckeye Bullet team includes 12 graduate and undergraduate
students with majors in a variety of engineering disciplines. In
addition to setting a new land speed record, the project to build the
car has also created some top-notch engineering students. The
exciting and innovative project has offered students hands-on
experience along with classroom time.

To build the Buckeye Bullet, OSU students collaborated with both
faculty and industry. In addition to the College of Engineering and
Center for Automotive Research, a number of businesses have sponsored
the car.

Team members will return to campus late Sunday. The car, which will
be transported in a trailer, will return early next week.