The roar — make that quiet whir — of a dozen electric race cars will put their batteries to the test at the seventh annual Emerald Coast Electrathon Classic 120 race today at Five Flags Speedway off Pine Forest Road in Pensacola.

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Details

Go to emeraldcoastelectrathon.com<http://www.emeraldcoastelectrathon.com> for more information including videos, sponsors and the day’s schedule.

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High school and open teams will be competing in the race with electric vehicles they have built from a kit or from the ground up. The vehicles have to pass a pre-race inspection that includes safety features before they race in two, 60-minute heats to see how many laps they can complete on a battery charge.

The Gulf Power Engineering Society, Five Flags Speedway, ASHRAE of Northwest Florida, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of Northwest Florida and the Emerald Coast Clean Cities Coalition sponsor the event. More than 40 volunteers from Gulf Power’s Engineering Society will help facilitate the event.

“This race is so important for students,” said Vaughn Nichols, a Gulf Power employee and the race promoter. “They get to learn mechanical skills as well as learn about energy efficiency and teamwork.”

Electrathon America sanctions the event and 13 teams with 12 cars and more than 152 team members have registered to compete. This year, two teams are running the advanced Lithium batteries in the cars.

Schools in the Pensacola area include Pensacola High School, Crestview High School and Pensacola State College. Teams are also coming from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and south Florida.

The first race starts at 10:30 a.m. and the second race begins at 1:30 p.m. Trophies for completing the most laps in the two races will be awarded to the top three teams in each division, as well as an overall winner.

The event is free for the public and the track will open at 10 a.m. The infield will be open at noon during the break between races for the public to view the vehicles.