EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY / BETHUNE-COOKMAN UNIVERSITY

The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) / Bethune-Cookman University (BCU) EcoCAR EV Challenge team is a competitive, driven, and diverse team of students and faculty from EcoCAR-experienced ERAU as well as new and excited members from BCU. Both universities provide unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and they are motivated to take on EcoCAR EV Challenge together.

Its students are driven by the engineering challenge, academic development, networking, and career development opportunities that EcoCAR provides. ERAU has participated in EcoCAR since the first EcoCAR competition — EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge — in 2008, where the team converted the Saturn Vue into a 2-mode biodiesel plug-in hybrid, which placed 4th overall in 2009. The team then participated in EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future, where the team converted the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu into a biodiesel series hybrid, which placed 5th overall in 2014. After that, the team competed in EcoCAR 3, where the team converted the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro into a E85 series hybrid, which placed 4th overall in 2015, 3rd overall in 2016, and 2nd overall in 2017. Most recently, the team competed in the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge, where it converted the 2019 Chevrolet Blazer into a parallel-through-the-road hybrid, with some semi-autonomous features.

For EcoCAR EV Challenge, the ERAU/BCU team will convert the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ from single motor / rear-wheel drive, to dual motor / all-wheel drive, with a unique challenge of a two-speed differential on the front drive unit, as well as enhancing the autonomy features of the vehicle.