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Student’s love of speed leads to electric longboard, company

Trey Camp rides his electric longboard.
Trey Camp rides his electric longboard.
Trey Camp

NC State mechanical engineering student Trey Camp wants to turn his love of going fast into a successful business.

Like many students on NC State’s campus, Camp began using a longboard, or long skateboard, to make the trip between classes faster and more fun. He loved riding downhill, getting the board up to a high speed.

“Hitting a good hill is extremely thrilling,” the sophomore from Rutherford County, NC said. “I’d really like to be doing it all the time.”

You can’t always be going downhill, though. Except what if you could? That gave Camp an idea.

Camp has always been interested in electric vehicles and cars. The summer after his freshman year on campus, instead of a co-op or internship he decided to work on building an electric longboard.

He began buying parts in the spring and learned to do the welding and wiring necessary to add a motor to a traditional longboard.

He first tested his creation during a vacation in Orlando, Fla. and can now be seen zipping around NC State’s Centennial Campus. He’s been riding the board every day for nine months and has only had two minor accidents, both times after accidentally running over bad sections of sidewalk.

Powered by a custom 10-cell lithium polymer battery, Camp’s board will clock 35 mph. It could go even faster, he said, but he’s waiting to finish a new gear system to beat the current electric longboard speed record of 59.55 mph.

A hand-held remote controls acceleration and can be used to brake. Camp describes it as akin to standing on top of a remote-controlled car.

Camp has started a company called DAR Boards to manufacture and sell his electric boards. He is finishing a second prototype of the board and lining up manufacturers for the parts needed to scale up production. He hopes to raise money for production costs through a crowd funding effort in the near future.

Learn more about Camp’s work at http://www.facebook.com/DARboards and view his video on YouTube.