TransForum Vol. 8, No. 2

EcoCAR: The NeXT Challenge Teams Chosen

EcoCAR Teams will modify a car like this to create a more efficient vehicle using new hybrid technology. Photo courtesy of Roy Feldman.

On May 21, the teams for the next student competition, EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, were announced in Washington, D.C. Seventeen teams have been selected from the U.S. and Canada to participate in this prestigious event.

EcoCAR is the latest in a 19-year series of Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), an automotive manufacturer, and managed by Argonne National Laboratory. The goals of the competitions are to stimulate the development and demonstration of advanced propulsion and alternative fuel technologies and to train the next generation of engineers to lead the industry in the 21st century.

A three-year competition, EcoCAR will challenge students
to re-engineer a Saturn Vue donated by General Motors. The EcoCAR teams will design and build fully functional electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell hybrid vehicles based on the California Zero Emission Vehicle regulations. The student teams will integrate advanced-technology powertrains, lightweight materials, aerodynamic improvements, and will use various alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen into their vehicles.

The seventeen university teams include:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Dayton Beach, FL)
• Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA)
• Howard University (Washington, DC)
• Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI)
• Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS)
• Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, MO)
• North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
• Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
• Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA)
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN)
• Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX)
• University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada)
• University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
• University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
• University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
• Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
• West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV)
  

For more on EcoCAR, see TransForum 8:1.

More

• EcoCAR Web site: www.ecocarchallenge.org

November 2008