Edison Go-kart rodeo includes FNFN’s Chalo school

FORT NELSON, B.C. — This year’s annual Edison Motors EV go-kart competition will include an entry from Fort Nelson First Nation’s Chalo School.

Powered by Edison Motors, the Edison EV Challenge is a competition pitting secondary schools from across British Columbia against each other to build an electric motorized vehicle. 

The Chalo team is one of 20 institutions selected to travel to Donald, B.C. for June 6th to take on its competitors.

James Wedrat is the trades teacher at Chalo School and he says his team has been working three times a week on their cart, with a team mixed of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

According to a Facebook post from the school, Wedrat described the project as “geometry and trig in action.”

“I’ve been a trade teacher there for two years [and have] done two summers worth of a summer trades program here,” Wedrat told Energeticcity.ca. “It was actually through that I met Lisa [Scott] from the BC Construction Foundation.”

“She was telling me about the Edison EV challenge because I was talking about how I wanted to build a go-kart with the class at school.  I just kept checking their website almost weekly, until I saw that the competition had been released. [The] first chance I got, I signed us up for it.”

While a photo on Facebook in early April gave the public a sneak peek at its vehicle, Wedrat revealed the team has been working physically on the kart for about 10 days.

“So far, we did a little bit of planning,” said Wedrat. “We have got quite a lot done in the time that we have been on it. But before that, it was more about planning.”

Part of the planning involved fundraising to make the trip. Wedrat confirmed to Energeticcity.ca that travel expenses, at least in part, have been partially booked.

He sees good teamwork from his charges, who range in age from 13 years old all the up to 18. Wedrat said each member of the team has “figured out their place” regarding the vehicle’s construction. 

In assembling the vehicle, Wedrat said his team has been “scavenging parts.”

“There are always things, especially up in the north, people have that aren’t running,” said Wedrat. “ We have pulled a front end off an ATV that we’re using for all of our front suspensions, and we’re currently trying to track down some rear suspension.”

Wedrat also said his team, despite its remote location, isn’t intimidated by schools from the south of the province.

“They all want to win,” said Wedrat. “They want to show that ‘we’re from the north, we live in the woods in our spare time. So this is what we do.’”

The 2026 Edison Motors EV Challenge takes place in Donald, B.C., on Saturday, June 6th. Visit the event’s webpage for more information.