Gray Carstens, a junior at CU Denver studying electrical engineering, is looking to add a spark to his contributions to reducing greenhouse gases.
“If we want to change the world, we’re just going to have to do it ourselves,” said Carstens, a Berkeley neighborhood resident who has been building an electric vehicle in his garage for the past 18 months.
“The fact of the matter is that after about five years of owning an electric vehicle, it’s net-zero in terms of emissions output,” he added, “and zero-emissions cars are an important step to addressing climate change.”
Even as it is often said that the actions of an individual may not make a significant effect, they do add up, especially when it comes to electric vehicle use. In a six-year study, researchers at the University of Southern California discovered that with more electric vehicle adoption came lower air-pollution levels and fewer asthma-related emergency room visits.
Denver is no stranger to the effects of emissions. According to the Colorado School of Public Health, the combination of industry and how the city sits at the base of the mountains subject Denver residents to inversions.
This phenomenon holds ozone pollution over the city, making air quality less than ideal. While Denver is a long way from the notorious “brown cloud” of the 1980s, it was ranked the sixth-worst city in the nation for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association in 2024. Zero-emission cars are among the ALA’s recommendations for improving air quality.
Carstens took this advice one step further and said that people need a collective change in how they think about purchasing vehicles.
“People need to become more comfortable with owning things with an intention of sustainability,” he said. “We need to shift our mentality to say, ‘I’m buying this because it’s going to last me 30 years.’”
The benefits of electric vehicles have been on the forefront of sustainability conversations for decades. Carstens was inspired to explore electric car building by his stepfather, Jeff, who told him about “Who Killed the Electric Car,” a 2006 documentary that explains the troublesome history of the electric car’s battle for corporate adoption. He channeled that inspiration into building an electric go-kart when he was 13 years old.
With a background that includes not only a middle-school project but also working at an automotive performance shop and formal education in electrical engineering, Carstens had what it takes to build an electric vehicle. All he needed was the perfect subject.
After more than a year of searching, he found a 1988 Toyota truck, the owner of which had begun to transform it into an electric vehicle but abandoned the project. Carstens bought the truck from a man in Blackhawk alongside an electric motor and some components to operate the motor, but nothing was put together.
It took Carstens and Jeff five hours to get the truck down the mountain after a series of flat tires. But eventually, they got it back to Berkeley and got to work.
Over the next 18 months, Carstens took apart every component of the engine and put it back together. Recently, Carstens took on the final, most challenging step—building out the electric battery pack. Today, the truck is driveable, and his next task is to find out how to make it street-legal. Carstens has already procured the next car for his project, a 1989 Toyota Cressida.
Not everyone has the skills and resources to build their own electric vehicle like Carstens, but widespread electric vehicle adoption is not out of reach for many Denver residents, and Coloradans are increasingly making the transition.
The Colorado Automobile Dealers Association’s third-quarter outlook reports that 21.9% of vehicle registrations in the third quarter of 2024 were electric vehicles. The Tesla Model Y and the Nissan Leaf both fell into the top 10 cars in Colorado through September.
Carstens said he isn’t sure exactly what he will do with his electric vehicle-building skills and electrical engineering degree, but he knows that electric vehicles are his future. While he acknowledges that electric vehicles may not be the be-all-end-all solution to reducing emissions, “electric vehicles are a shift toward the right direction,” he said.
