Turkish students race self-built electric cars at TEKNOFEST

By Zeynep Canli and Ibrahim Aktas

KOCAELI, Turkey (AA) - Students in northwestern Turkey on Sunday raced the electric vehicles they built to compete during the country's largest aerospace and technology event.

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank examined the finalist vehicles made by high school and university students taking part in the races organized by Turkey's scientific council in the Kocaeli province as part of the TEKNOFEST Aerospace and Technology Festival.

Varank told reporters that the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) had been organizing these races for 16 years and that they recently started to be held as part of TEKNOFEST.

He underlined that this was not a competition of speed, but of efficiency, explaining that with the vehicles they designed and built, the students aimed to cover the greatest distance with the least energy.

"Our aim is to enable our young people to be inclined towards future technologies, to conduct research using these technologies, to learn team spirit through these competitions, and to become successful engineers and scientists in the future," Varank noted.

Nearly 50,000 teams applied to take part in the competitions in 35 different categories, while a total of 200 teams applied for the electric vehicle races, the minister added.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz