EcoCAR Innovation Challenge Sponsors
The EcoCAR Innovation Challenge is powered by partnership. Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions provide sponsors with a unique opportunity to invest in the future of mobility while advancing their own business objectives. Through collaboration with students, faculty, and fellow industry leaders, sponsors help shape workforce development, accelerate technology adoption, strengthen cross-industry partnerships, and build lasting connections with the next generation of engineers and innovators.
Sponsor Benefits
The EcoCAR is driven by a clear purpose: advancing vehicle innovation while preparing the next generation of industry leaders.
Recruiting
EcoCAR sponsorship provides companies with a Direct Pipeline to Industry-Ready Talent. Sponsors gain access to high-achieving, competitively selected students who are trained over four years using real industry tools, processes, and performance expectations, graduating as workforce-ready contributors.
Product Exposure
EcoCAR integrates sponsor products directly into vehicle builds, national events, and judged technical presentations, building brand credibility, accelerating workforce adoption, and generating real-world product insight.
In-Person Engagement & Collaboration
EcoCAR provides a Multi-OEM, Collaborative Ecosystem where sponsors operate within a highly integrated, hands-on environment, fostering B2B relationship building, accelerating cross-industry collaboration, and enabling real-time technical exchange that drives innovation beyond the competition.
Headline Sponsors
Leading Organizations Driving EcoCAR Innovation
U.S. Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy established the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory to develop the next generation of automative leaders through hands-on learning and real world vehivle engineering experiences. The mission of the Energy Department is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
General Motors
General Motors sponsors one of EcoCAR's two vehicle tracks, providing students with a distinct engineering challenge, vehicle platform, mentorship, and technical guidance that reflects the future of transportation.
General Motors is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which will power everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles.
General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands.
Stellantis
Stellantis sponsors one of EcoCAR's two vehicle tracks, challenging students to design and integrate advanced propulsion, battery, and vehicle systems while exploring innovative approaches to vehicle development.
Stellantis is one of the world’s leading automakers and a mobility provider. In North America, it's best known for producing and selling vehicles in a portfolio of iconic and award-winning brands such as Jeep®, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Alfa Romeo and Fiat.
MathWorks
Mathworks provides software and technical resources that enable student teams to model, simulate, analyze, and developn advanced vehicle technologies throughout the four-year competition.
MATLAB and Simulink are fundamental computation tools used at more than 5,000 educational intuitions worldwide. MATLAB is one of the top 10 most popular programming languages and is used for teaching, research, and project-based learning. Add MATLAB and Simulink to the classroom to inspire critical thinking and innovation as well as prepare students for prominent careers in industry, where the tools are the de facto standard for R&D.
By getting involved in Student Competitions such as EcoCAR, MathWorks prepares and supports the next generation of scientists and engineers with software, training, and mentoring to tackle the same technical issues as professional engineers.
Student teams receive industry-standard tools, with a flexible design environment where they can apply classroom theory to competition problems. Students with competition experience become employees who are productive on the job from day one.
Employing a Model-Based Design approach to the automotive design process enables teams to design, test, validate and share their models within one environment. Using industry-standard tools such as MATLAB and Simulink help students tackle real engineering problems.
Overall Sponsors
Supporting Innovation Through Collaboration
Altec
Altec is proud to once again sponsor EcoCAR Innovation Challenge and invest in the next generation of engineers. We believe providing real-world experience to engineering students and making hands-on training accessible is crucial in developing talent, and we are honored to be a part of a program that makes this possible.
American Battery Technology Company
American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) is advancing a closed-loop, domestic supply chain for critical battery materials through the development and commercialization of lithium-ion battery recycling, battery materials manufacturing, and resource extraction technologies. By recovering, processing, and producing battery-grade metals in the United States, ABTC is helping strengthen supply chain security, reduce dependence on imported materials, and meet growing demand from the electric vehicle, energy storage, and advanced technology sectors. Through continuous innovation and scalable industrial solutions, ABTC is building the foundation for a more sustainable and resilient battery materials ecosystem.
Bosch
Bosch is proud to sponsor EcoCar because it supports our long‑standing mission to create technology that improves quality of life, conserves resources, and helps shape the future of mobility, consistent with our corporate purpose of “Invented for life.” Bosch aims to drive innovation in areas like sustainable and connected mobility, invest in emerging technologies, and build strong partnerships with universities and industry all while engaging with the next generation of engineering talent.
Caterpillar
For more than a century, Caterpillar has built a better, more sustainable world. Caterpillar Inc. is shaping the future as the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.
Backed by one of the largest independent global dealer networks and financing services through Cat Financial, the company’s primary business segments: Power and Energy, Construction Industries and Resource Industries are solving customers’ toughest challenges through a commitment to commercial excellence and advanced technology. All of this is made possible by our highly talented and dedicated team.
Cohda Wireless
Cohda Wireless is a global leader in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, connecting vehicles with each other, with roadside infrastructure and with vulnerable road users to make roads safer, smarter and greener. Founded in 2004 in Adelaide, Australia, and now part of the Danlaw group, Cohda supplies V2X hardware, software stacks and development tools to automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, road authorities and mining operators worldwide. Its MK6 on-board and roadside units support C-V2X, DSRC, LTE and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and are used in connected vehicle trials and deployments around the world.
Denso
DENSO is a leading global mobility supplier that develops advanced technology and components for nearly every vehicle make and model on the road today. In North America, DENSO is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, and employs more than 23,000 team members across more than 40 sites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Guided by its commitment to creating a better world through sustainability and safety, DENSO supports programs that advance STEM education, innovation and hands-on learning. Through initiatives like EcoCAR, DENSO helps inspire and develop the next generation of engineers, innovators and mobility leaders. Learn more at denso.com/us-ca/en/.
dSPACE
dSPACE is the worldwide leading provider of simulation and validation solutions for developing networked, autonomous, and electrically powered vehicles. The company's end-to-end solutions are used in particular by automobile manufacturers and their suppliers to test the software and hardware components of their new vehicles long before a new model hits the road. dSPACE is not only a sought-after partner in vehicle development; engineers in the aerospace, agricultural, and industrial automation sectors also rely on our expertise. Our portfolio ranges from end-to-end simulation and validation solutions to engineering and consulting services, training, and support. With over 2,900 employees worldwide, dSPACE has headquarters in Paderborn, four project centers in Germany and serves customers through its regional companies in the USA, United Kingdom, France, Japan, China, Croatia, South Korea, India, Sweden and Italy.
Dynamic Map Platform
Dynamic Map Platform is the leading geospatial measurement and mapping company supplying HD maps and software for today’s advanced driver assistance systems and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles. DMP’s purpose is to build a high-precision location-based infrastructure globally as a foundation for a digital society and opening up a new future for autonomous driving and other industries.
Gamma Technologies
Gamma Technologies develops GT-SUITE, the multi-physics systems simulation platform trusted by the world's leading automakers and suppliers for over 30 years. From battery thermal management and electric drive to full vehicle energy consumption, GT-SUITE lets engineers model flow, thermal, mechanical, electrochemical, and electromagnetic behavior in one unified environment, scaling from 0D models to detailed 3D. Combining proven physics with AI, it helps teams test ideas virtually, make smarter design decisions, and move faster. As an EcoCAR sponsor, Gamma Technologies gives students access to the same tools used in industry, preparing the next generation of engineers for real-world powertrain and vehicle development.
Growth Innovation Strategy
Growth Innovation Strategy (GIS) advises leaders on how to turn strategic opportunities into products, services, and growth that matter. As a proud EcoCAR sponsor and leading advisor to the new Product Innovation Track, GIS brings that work directly to the next generation of mobility leaders.
Working with the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. automakers, Argonne National Laboratory, and university teams, GIS provides workshops, mentoring, and practical skill building at the intersection of innovation, engineering, and commercialization. Students learn to look beyond a technical solution alone: Who needs it, what outcome it improves, what trade-offs it requires, and what evidence offers confidence it can succeed in the real world.
That work advances EcoCAR’s mission: Tomorrow’s vehicles must perform on the road, meet customer needs, earn stakeholder support, and make business sense. GIS helps students build the habits to meet those demands: Define a customer problem, identify critical assumptions, test ideas early, learn from results, and carry the strongest concepts toward adoption.
Hesse Mechatronics
Hesse Mechatronics, Inc. has always been involved with workforce development. We saw the significant benefits students received during the Battery Workforce Challenge, which is why we are sponsoring the EcoCAR Innovation Challenge. If the US is going to be doing more manufacturing state-side, we need to properly train the students to help drive these new industries.
Intrepid Control Systems
Intrepid Control Systems is a global provider of advanced hardware and software tools for engineers in vehicle autonomy, connectivity, automotive Ethernet and embedded engineering. Intrepid also produces industry-leading devices for 10BASE-T1S, 10GBASE-T1, 1000BASE-T1 and 100BASE-T1 and supports the latest networks and protocols, including AUTOSAR, CAN FD, CAN, LIN, FlexRay, Automotive Ethernet, J1939, ISO 14229 and GMLAN.
Siemens Digital Industries Software
Siemens is the technology company for industry, infrastructure, and transportation, and we provide the operating system for digitally transforming OT.
Everywhere you look, the expertise underpinning our technologies—electrification, automation, software, and financing—is helping customers be more productive, profitable, and sustainable.
Siemens continues to ensure we have the capacity to serve our U.S. customers by investing more than $650 million in new plants and factory expansions, strengthening our domestic manufacturing.
We are now leading the way in bringing platforms to industry and infrastructure that make it easier and faster for customers to harness AI and digitally transform.
Vibration Research
Founded in 1995, Vibration Research (VR) designs and manufactures vibration control, data acquisition, and dynamic signal analysis systems for engineers worldwide. VR’s hardware and software solutions help automotive, aerospace, electronics, and other industries collect real-world vibration data, analyze operating environments, develop representative test profiles, and perform laboratory vibration testing.
For the EcoCAR Innovation Challenge, Vibration Research provides teams with the ObserVR1000 portable data acquisition system and ObserVIEW analysis software, giving students hands-on experience collecting and analyzing real-world noise and vibration data. The battery-powered ObserVR1000 is designed for portable field data acquisition, while ObserVIEW provides tools for waveform analysis and test development.
Volta Foundation
The EcoCAR Innovation Challenge sits at the intersection of innovation and workforce development—two pillars that are critical to advancing the battery industry. At Volta Foundation, we see the future of the battery industry being driven not only by technological innovation, but by the strength of the talent pipeline behind it. Through this partnership, we’re proud to support a program that is both accelerating cutting-edge solutions and preparing the next generation of leaders in electrification.
Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of document authors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Government or any agency thereof
