A hybrid electric vehicle designed by UC Davis mechanical engineering students will attempt to establish a mileage record driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento on less than five gallons of gas. Equipped with both an electric motor and gas engine, the award-winning vehicle will leave El Monte in Southern California on Thursday, Oct. 20, and arrive in Sacramento at 8 p.m. The car, driven by UC Davis students, will leave the L.A. basin on electric power, switching eventually to gas on the northbound trip. This will be the first time a car has driven this distance at 80 miles per gallon, according to Andrew Frank, UC Davis professor of mechanical engineering and faculty adviser to the vehicle-design class that created the car. Last June the vehicle, called "AfterShock," outperformed cars from 42 other universities to win an international contest. In fact the vehicle's range and acceleration rates are the best in the country, according to contest co-sponsors -- Saturn, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and Canada's national energy department, National Resources. AfterShock has met and exceeded the emissions standards set by the California Air Resources Board.