FutureTruck

FutureTruck was a unique five-year engineering program that brought together the resources of industry, government, and academia in a cooperative effort to address important environmental and energy-related issues posed by the growing demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). FutureTruck was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and a variety of other sponsors and was managed by Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research.

Virginia Tech FutureTruck	Michigan Tech FutureTruck

The FutureTruck competition challenged teams of students from 15 top North American universities to continue reengineering a conventional production vehicle into a lower-emissions vehicle with at least 25% higher fuel economy, without sacrificing the performance, utility, safety, and affordability consumers want. To meet these challenges, students employ cutting-edge automotive technologies, including advanced propulsion systems, lightweight materials, and alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel. All of the teams in are implementing hybrid electric design strategies: an internal combustion engine with a battery and electric motor.

In the first two years of the competition (2000-2001), working with headline sponsor General Motors Corporation, FutureTruck teams modified Chevrolet Suburbans. During the final three years, cosponsored by Ford Motor Company, saw the teams working on Ford Explorers.

The vehicles underwent a comprehensive safety evaluation followed by dynamic testing and static design events. The vehicles were judged in more than a dozen events that evaluate their technical performance (acceleration, trailer towing, off-road handling, and on-road fuel economy) and static design (consumer acceptability, engineering design review, and oral technical presentation). To encourage teams to develop technologies that reduce total cycle greenhouse gas emissions, FutureTruck also included an event that measures "upstream fuel-cycle emissions" (caused during the production and delivery of a fuel) and dynamometer emissions measurements.

More

• Competition Innovations
• Where are They Now? How AVTCs Led One Alumni Down a Road of Success (December 2009)

December 2009