TransForum Vol. 9, No. 1

Student Innovators Driven by the Environment

Saturn Vue EcoCAR

Student engineers participating in EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge recently completed a major milestone in their 3-year quest to win the competition by unveiling their vehicle architectures. Now more than halfway through the first year of the program, the students’ 17 unique designs provide a glimpse into the future of green vehicle technology solutions and embrace innovations ranging from plug-in hydrogen fuel cells to all-electric vehicles.

EcoCAR, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), as well as the Government of Canada, the California Air Resources Board and more than two dozen other government and industry leaders, provides invaluable experience and training to the next generation of engineers developing future green vehicle technology solutions. Argonne National Laboratory provides competition management, team evaluation, and technical and logistical support. The competition challenges 17 universities across North America to explore solutions to achieve improved fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while retaining the performance and consumer appeal of a 2009 Saturn VUE.

The student teams have worked tirelessly to develop the advanced technology vehicle designs that will not only meet the competition criteria, but also represent their vision for their ‘EcoCAR’ of the future. Students were encouraged to explore a variety of solutions including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell, electric and extended-range electric vehicles. The 17 EcoCAR designs selected are as follows:

• Extended-Range Electric Vehicles (EREV) — Eight of the EcoCAR teams chose to design extended-range electric vehicles, which, like GM’s Chevy Volt, demonstrate full performance with an electric powertrain for all-electric driving and an optimized combustion engine that can extend the range of the vehicle with its on-board fuel storage.


• Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) — Six teams have designed plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that include a large lithium-ion battery. The battery can be recharged by plugging into the wall and the vehicle may operate without using the engine at all. Once the plug-in range of the battery is depleted the vehicle can still operate as a regular hybrid.


• Full-Function Electric Vehicle (FFEV) — Only one team chose to design a full-function electric vehicle, which has an all-electric motor powering its drive train and has over 100 miles of range. It stores energy in batteries that can be charged using a home electrical outlet.


• Fuel Cell Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FCPHEV) — Two teams have designed a fuel cell plug-in
  hybrid vehicle which uses an onboard hydrogen fuel cell to either propel the vehicle or recharge a
  battery pack. The battery pack can be charged using a home electrical outlet. The FCPHEV uses significant battery energy before relying on the fuel cell to extend the range of the vehicle.

While each of the 17 EcoCAR designs is unique, there are common attributes including:

• All of the vehicles have some plug-in capability, which can significantly reduce on-road petroleum consumption.
• All of the designs use state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery technology, so the vehicles are able to store more electric energy in smaller, lighter packages.
• All of the vehicles use a renewable energy source that displaces petroleum consumption, which significantly reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the vehicles tailpipes.
• All of the EcoCAR team architectures must retain the safety and real-world performance characteristics of production vehicles that consumers demand.

May 2009