TransForum Vol. 9, No. 2

Eco-Engineers from The Ohio State University Win Gold at 2009 EcoCAR Competition

Mark Maher (left), Executive Director, GM Global Powertrain Engineering, congratulates The Ohio State University on their first place win in the 2009 EcoCAR Competition Finals along with John Lushetsky, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy and Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, Canada (both far right). The six-day competition was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and concluded on Friday, June 12, 2009.

On June 12, 2009, students from The Ohio State University (OSU) earned top honors at the 2009 finals of the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for their design of an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (EREV).

OSU took first place out of 17 universities in the U.S. and Canada that competed in the first major milestone of this three-year competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and many others including the Government of Canada. The competition challenges university engineering students across North America to re-engineer a 2009 Saturn Vue to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal.

For this first year of competition, students were tasked with creating innovative concepts for their vehicle design and given the opportunity to use advanced software and computer modeling tools which allowed for testing and refinement under the simulation of real-world conditions.

The winning team’s EREV provides a practical solution that will increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. OSU’s design was powered by a 1.8 liter engine and fueled by E85 ethanol. The next-generation design predicts a 300 percent increase in fuel economy over the production 4-cylinder vehicle.

“My teammates and I are thrilled to be named this year’s winner of the EcoCAR competition,” said Eric Schacht, a student engineer and team leader from the OSU team. “The many long days and late nights spent perfecting our vehicle design paid off today, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to participate in such an important competition.”

The second place vehicle design, engineered by students at the University of Victoria, is also an EREV that runs on E85 ethanol. Mississippi State University was awarded third place for its B20 biodiesel EREV.

October 2009