Boyz Under The Hood

And a wizardly teenage one too. Thinking that most hybrid cars looked lame, the team persuaded Hauger to order the Slovakian K-1 kit car so that they could outfit with a hybrid engine. "Let's make the first badass hybrid car!" Jones-Mahoney said. With the help of a volunteer college student, they talked the Slovakians into making them a custom carbon fiber frame instead of the usual fiberglass to lighten the load. The car arrived at the school in a crate along with nine instructional DVDs in Slovakian. Hauger and the kids chucked those aside, and fired up the welding torches.

Using the Attack kit at the core, they beefed up the performance by creating a hybrid engine of a 1.9 liters turbo-diesel Volkswagen engine and 200 horsepower electric motor. To keep down the weight, they powered the electric motor with a slim 200 pound 450 volt ultra-capacitor pack. By powering the rear wheels by the diesel engine, they could use the battery pack's energy almost purely for acceleration — a lightning 0 to 60 in under four seconds. Overall, the Hybrid Attack, as they dubbed it, pulled off 50 miles per gallon, with 300 horsepower. And it was all done for less than $15,000.

The Hybrid Attack took the Tour De Sol top prize three years in a row, and made the kids heroes of the neighborhood — and car geeks around the world — symbolic of the power of perseverance, and a massive challenge to the sluggish minds in Detroit. "The best part is this super-hybrid didn't come from the Big 3 or some obscure Euro supercar maker, it's the work of high school kids," effused Autoblog, "Mad props to these kids for giving a new meaning to 'pimpin' my ride.'"

As the current 15 kids on the EVX team mill around the garage, talk turns to the plans for the Auto X prize. "As crazy as it sounds, I think we have a shot at winning," Hauger says. While the competition is focusing on high-priced cars that look like the Jetsons, the EVX team is taking a decidedly more accessible — and they hope — winning approach.

The team is making two models of a plug-in hybrid, they're calling the Environmental Vision X or EVX. At the core of each is a seven-kilowatt battery pack using advanced lithium technology. This will power powering a 65 HP Azure Dynamics electric motor in parallel with a two-cylinder engine, one diesel/biodiesel and one gasoline/ethanol/biobutanol.

The kicker is the chassis: Each will be built on the 2008 Ford Focus chassis. "It's a less expensive way to go and the easiest way to pass safety," says Hauger, "Our opinion is that the American consumer has an idea of what a car looks like and if you go too far outside that, you won't have a successful business plan." Azeem Hill, a 14-year-old on the team, is hoping they get the estimated $615,000 in donations they need to begin. "I want to prove to the world that kids from West Philadelphia can do feats like this."

Sixteen-year-old Sowande Gay, a short kid with a giant afro, grew up in Southwest Philly with a passion for hiking and animals. He was also a diehard car geek, and sees the EV club as a way to marry both passions. "I like nature, and I don't want to see the woods disappear," Gay says, "I want to make cars that will make the world a better place."

As the kids file out of the shop at the end of the day, they high-five Hauger, and when the last leaves, his eyes well up. "I'm leaving the school," he tells me, "the kids don't know yet."

While Hauger has been building up the EVX team, he's been fighting bloody battles with the school board behind the scenes. For three years, he developed a plan to transform the Auto Academy into its own official high school, with all the added budgets and teachers that would go along with it. Though he was able to score $3 million in renovations — including new computers and a lunchroom for hot food — the deal fell apart. "Bureaucracies are brutal to people who are trying to accomplish something," he says, "I gave up on that dream."

Hauger is taking a job as principal of another school, where he hopes to get similar projects off the ground. But he's committed to helping EVX team finish the job for the Auto X prize before he goes. The EVX team's legacy is already spreading among those in the eco-car pursuit. "It's inspiring that a contest can inspire a group like that to compete," says Darryl Siry, spokesperson for Tesla, "it says something about who they are. I recommend they not listen to people who tell them this is how it's done. Innovation comes from figuring out solution and answer to problem in new ways."

"Their story tells an important part of innovation: that everyone is involved in doing something about energy efficiency today," says Don Foley, the executive director of the Auto X-Prize, If high school kids can get involved then it sends a strong message that everyone else can be too."

Hauger takes me in a spin in the Hybrid Attack through his old neighborhood. A guy in camouflage pants sees us and his jaw drops as we come to a red light. "Whoa!" The guy exclaims, "What's that car?"

"It's the car they built in the high school," Hauger says.

"That's all right, man!" The guy says, high-fiving Hauger, "that's all right!"

Hauger hits the gas, and takes off. "It sounds cheesy but it's true: with the right support kids can accomplish great things," he says, "It doesn't have to be building a car, it can be anything."