Student entrepreneurs dig EVs, water and overseas markets

The Voltaic Drive Systems team. Photo: Voltaic Drive Systems

There is early-stage technology, and then there’s early-early-early-stage technology of the sort that may never make it beyond a science-fair concept. Both sorts were on display last Thursday at the University of Washington’s Environmental Innovation Challenge, a student competition that awards more than $20,000 for clean tech projects with marketplace potential.

Seventeen student teams attracted a small army of 90-plus judges that included venture capitalists, researchers, local clean tech honchos and executives from companies like Boeing and McKinstry. And while the projects may be a long way from market-ready, they provide a glimpse of what’s capturing the imagination of engineering and business students.

Namely, electric vehicles, water purification and markets in the developing world.

Voltaic Drive Systems took the top $10,000 prize for its modular drop-in drivetrains for electric and hybrid cars. The startup says its design lowers capital and R&D costs for car makers, letting more companies break into the growing EV market. As it develops a more rigorous prototype in the next two years, it expects to offer drivetrains for $3,000 to $10,000, according to senior Vivek Gowri, a UW mechanical-engineering student.

"With the experiences that we've got, our team now knows how to design and build prototypes — and design and build electric vehicles — so we've got so much potential beyond this point," his partner Trevor Crain told the Seattle Times.

It’s further evidence that U.S. auto-making is spreading beyond Detroit, as smaller companies in Oregon and the Bay Area bet that greener vehicles aren’t just a game for the big dogs.

The competition also saw a slew of groups working on water purification, including the $5,000 second-prize winner, PotaVida, which develops reusable, solar-powered purifiers with electronic sensors that show when water is clean. More established companies, including Puralytics of Beaverton, Ore., offer solar-powered purifying technology. PotaVida takes it a step further by adding an indicator that makes it clear that the water is safe – a strategy for encouraging adoption among people without access to clean water.

Other teams – WFS International from Washington State University and Spektrum from Seattle Pacific University – focused on other purification methods. John Martin, a judge and a regional co-chair for the Cleantech Open, a national business competition, points out that a surprising number of recent Cleantech Open winners – including Puralytics, BioVantage, and Hydrovolts – have been water-related companies.

“Clean tech isn’t just about carbon anymore,” he said.

Nor is it just an industry for the developed world. The UW team G-Solar, which is developing a combined solar photovoltaic and solar thermal system, is looking exclusively at sub-Saharan Africa markets with ample sunlight and a lack of electrical grids. Other teams offered dual business plans for local markets and ones in the developing world.

That strategy follows in the footsteps of Puralytics and NanoICE, a Bothell, Wash., food-chilling company that hopes to cut waste both on Northwest fishing boats and in countries where better preservation could reduce hunger.

“I love these projects where they’re thinking about the first world and the third world simultaneously,” said Martin. “You have the first-world application that pays the bills, and then another track alongside that.”