Accelerating skills, opening doors
After spending a year designing, testing and building their vehicles, students come together to compete in a festival-like atmosphere.
Our Impact
The Tait Foundation supports EVolocity’s Canterbury programme, which sees hundreds of young people gain real-world engineering skills through an exhilarating journey.
The Story
EVolocity is a national STEAM initiative where students design, build and race their own electric vehicles — a year-long journey that blends engineering, creativity and teamwork. It’s an incubator for innovation and a pathway into future-focused careers for young Kiwis.
For Head of Partnerships Jo Morgan, the magic is in watching rangatahi realise what they’re capable of.
“Some of our students have produced vehicles that have drawn praise from university staff for their sophistication and design. Remarkably, we’ve even had 15‑year‑olds achieve a vehicle with self‑driving capability,” she says. “They’re incredibly talented, and we want to nurture that so they can go into prosperous careers that set them and their whānau up for life.”
Now in its twelfth year, EVolocity operates across eight regions. Schools, homeschool teams and youth mentoring groups all take part, and there is an active drive to increase female and Māori and Pasifika participation.
Students sign up early in the year and progress through workshops, skills sessions and check-ins with mentors to build their vehicle step-by-step.
CEO Jason Maraku says that’s where the deeper learning happens.
“They don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into,” Jason says, “but they persevere. They have ups and downs. And at the end of the year, they race something they designed and built with their own hands. What they don’t always realise is how many doors that experience opens. It genuinely impacts that path they're on.”
EVolocity’s 2024 impact data backs this up. Last year, 91% of students said the programme influenced their subject or career choices, 98% said it prepared them for future challenges, and 100% believed the skills will help them long-term.
A Carnival of Creativity – Christchurch, 31 October
This year’s Canterbury regional finals brought local teams together for a vibrant, festival-style event. Alongside the racing, music, food carts, prizes and competitions added energy and excitement to the event.
Among this year’s stories were students overcoming incredible challenges, from a young participant who is a selective mute, beginning to speak with his team members; to a young man named Henry, recently diagnosed with progressive vision loss, honoured by his teammates with their shark-themed vehicle Henry the Hammerhead.
Looking ahead, EVolocity is expanding its impact through a new eight-week mini-vehicle programme in partnership with the University of Canterbury. Beginning with a female-only cohort, the initiative aims to give young women a fun, confidence-building introduction to engineering. EVolocity is also developing new tracking systems in order to tailor opportunities for students as they progress.
“What has been most inspiring this year is watching our teams face genuine adversity – from technical failures to personal changes – and respond not with frustration, but with unwavering determination, pride and a collective will to succeed,” Jason says.
“Thanks to Tait Foundation, Canterbury rangatahi have the chance to build, race, and reimagine what’s possible with electric vehicles, with clean technology, and with their futures. We are incredibly grateful for their support and excited to be creating this legacy together,” adds Jo.
The Tait Foundation has been a long-standing supporter of EVolocity. We’re excited to back their kaupapa and help accelerate Canterbury students through this outstanding initiative.
