Northampton County 4-H members will use the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research next week to build model solar cars and learn about other alternative vehicles.

Harold Miller, who began teaching electric vehicle technology at Northampton County High School-East in 1993, will be one of the instructors of the daylong class at the center located off Highway 46 between Gaston and Garysburg on Wednesday, June 30, at 9:30 a.m.

Throughout the day the children will learn lessons about solar panels and electric vehicles, Miller said, leading to a race of the vehicles sometime after 2 p.m.

Before the children assemble their models, they will have lunch at 12:30 p.m. and roast marshmallows using solar power.

Several other electric vehicle instructors from the area will lead discussions as will Simon Cobb, the center’s chief operating officer.

For Miller, who came back from retirement this past year to teach the electric vehicle program at East following the retirement of Danny Johnson, the solar program at the center will be another tool to teach children the importance of getting the country off its oil dependence.

That is especially true in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill. “It still scares me,” Miller said. “You can’t be pumping oil a mile away and not have some kind of spill. We haven’t progressed that far in taking care of the planet.”

Miller believes if the country put as much effort into alternative fuel sources as it has focusing on oil, the pollution problem wouldn’t be as bad as it is now.

The electric vehicle revolution is something he preached in the 1990s and now he sees it coming true. “I think maybe because of the oil spill we’re getting more common sense.”

The problem with solar powered cars is the technology is still not as efficient as the electric vehicles because the solar panel technology is still not as advanced. Solar panels are 15 percent efficient while the electric motor is 96 percent efficient. “Some are as high as 99 percent,” Miller said.

Miller believes the center will play a critical part in the testing of even more efficient solar and electric vehicles. “I predict more environmentally friendly cars at the test track.”

He is pleased to see General Motors coming out with the Volt and says Renault estimates by 2020, 10 percent of the vehicles on the road will be electric. “I think that will attract some of the testing at the test track.”

Infiniti is also coming out with an electric vehicle and the Prius remains the standard in electric vehicle technology, Miller said.

Students are becoming more interested in alternative energy cars, he said. One of the students did a presentation on how Israel is considering levying tax breaks for electric vehicles. “We have to get around the thinking that when we look at a $30,000 to $40,000 SUV over a $30,000 to $40,000 electric vehicle, when you buy an electric vehicle you’re getting something that will last a lifetime. We have to adjust our thinking.”