EcoCARThe EcoCAR 2 team from Mississippi State University, on Wednesday in Los Angeles.Year No. 1 of the Energy Department’s EcoCAR 2 competition concluded this week in Los Angeles, with the team from Mississippi State University taking top honors, as well as $7,000 in prize money, among teams from 15 universities. Roughly $100,000 in total prize money was distributed to teams that distinguished themselves in 25 categories.
The contest, which has a three-year duration, challenges student teams to boost the energy efficiency of a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu contributed by General Motors, one of the 25 sponsors of the competition. This is the 10th iteration of the contest, which gives students practical experience in automotive engineering that may not be available to them in the classroom, according to Kristen De La Rosa, the director of the competition. Many of the 15,000 alumni from the program have gone on to work in the domestic automotive industry.
Each of the 15 teams is developing some form of a plug-in hybrid powertrain to reduce emissions and improve fuel consumption. Students focused this academic year on the design phase, which consisted of modeling and developing simulations for the drivetrain, battery and electrical systems. After six days of presentations and reviews, Mississippi State University’s series-parallel plug-in hybrid design received the highest point score from judges. The team from Ohio State University, featured in The Times last week, secured second prize, and the University of Waterloo placed third over all.
In the second year of competition, students will move from the simulator to the shop, where they will incorporate their hybrid systems into the Malibus donated by G.M.