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[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
Ohio State University Takes Top Spot at 2009 EcoCAR Competition with EREV Design
June 13, 2009
University students from The Ohio State University earned top honors at the 2009 finals of the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge competition in Toronto, Canada for their design of a Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV).
The Ohio State University took first place out of 17 universities in the US and Canada that competed in the first major milestone of this three-year competition sponsored by the US 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.
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The Long View from SAE 2009 World Congress
April 29, 2009
by Bill Cooke
On 20 April, the opening day of the SAE 2009 World Congress, the AVL Technology Leadership Theater presented a forum on “Green Mobility—The Long View”. Organized by Shane Chang at Honda Research Institute USA Inc., the session counted among its panelists:
Professor John Heywood, Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Sloan Auto Laboratory at MIT. Dr. Heywood recently co-authored a study called “On The Road in 2035—Reducing Petroleum Consumption and GHG Emissions.”
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Grand Prize Combustion-Engine Winner at 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas Achieves 2,757.1 MPG
April 19, 2009
| Some of the vehicles in the 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas. Click to enlarge. |
The student team from Laval University (Quebec, Canada) took the grand prize in the “Prototype” category at the 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas, held 15-18 April at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA, with 2,757.1 miles per gallon (0.085 L/100km). The team from Mater Dei High School (Evansville, Ind.) took the grand prize in the new “UrbanConcept” by achieving 433.3 mpg (0.543 L/100km).
More than 500 students in 44 participating teams participated in the event, a challenge for students to design, build and test fuel-efficient vehicles that travel the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel. The 44 teams were from six high schools and 29 universities from North and South America, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Additionally, a guest team from India joined the roster with a Prototype vehicle.
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111 Teams Officially Registered for Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE
April 08, 2009
| Distribution of entries by fuel sources. Click to enlarge. |
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles, announced its official list of 111 Registered Teams. Having passed this first judging hurdle, these teams now move one step closer to competing for their share of the $10-million prize purse that will be awarded to teams that win a rigorous long distance stage competition and can exceed 100 mpg US equivalent fuel economy (MPGe).
The teams, which collectively represent 136 vehicle entries with 14 different fuel sources, include diverse groups from 25 US states and 11 countries. Established automakers, emerging start-ups, universities and inventors are among those represented. Six of the Registered Teams remain confidential.
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EcoCAR Teams Roll Out Architectures; Plug-in Li-ion Packs and Renewable Energy Common Attributes
February 04, 2009
Student engineers participating in EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge unveiled their vehicle architectures at the Washington Auto Show. The 17 designs range from systems using on-board hydrogen fuel cells to full battery-electric vehicles.
EcoCAR, which is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), as well as the Government of Canada, the California Air Resources Board and other government and industry leaders, is a three-year competition that builds on the 19-year history of DOE advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies.
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Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Opens New Division for Large, Established Automakers
January 11, 2009
The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a multimillion dollar competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles (earlier post), has opened a Demonstration Division designed specifically for large, established automobile manufacturers. The new Division was created to address the fact that actual, high-volume production vehicles involve more and substantially harder engineering challenges and tradeoffs than developmental vehicles that are production-capable, the organizers said.
The Demonstration Division, distinct from the existing Competition Division, is intended to showcase high-efficiency vehicles from established automakers that are already selling fully validated, four-wheel vehicles in the US or EU at quantities greater than 10,000 per year, and have been doing so since 2005. Such companies may enter efficient Mainstream Class vehicles that are either in production or committed for production and sale in the US or EU prior to the end of 2012.
