The U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors are handing the keys of a Chevrolet Camaro to 16 collegiate teams as part of its EcoCAR 3 competition. EcoCAR 3 is a four-year competition that will launch in spring 2014 and will conclude in summer 2018.
The four-year Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) is challenging students to rebuild the Chevrolet Camaro to squeeze even more fuel efficiency out of it and reduce the emissions, all while keeping muscle car fanatics satisfied.
EcoCAR 3 is the latest collegiate advanced vehicle technology competition sponsored by DOE and GM. Managed by Argonne National Laboratory, EcoCAR 3 challenges 16 North American universities to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles by minimizing the vehicle’s fuel consumption and reducing its emissions. In addition, students must consider cost and explore innovation, while retaining the vehicle’s performance, safety, and consumer appeal.
Teams will follow an EcoCAR Vehicle Development Process (EVDP) to design and integrate their advanced technology solutions into a production light-duty vehicle donated by GM, gaining hands-on experience with industry-leading engineering tools and the latest vehicle components and technologies.
EcoCAR 3 has similar challenges that were introduced in EcoCAR 1 and 2, such as energy storage design and integration, controls systems development using Hardware-In-the-Loop testing platforms, etc. However, EcoCAR 3 will push teams to consider cost and explore innovation in their designs.
The following 16 North American universities competing were chosen based on their representation of today’s shifting engineering educational requirements:
- Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ)
- California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles)
- Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colo.)
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Fla.)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Ga.)
- McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
- Mississippi State University (Starkville, Miss.)
- Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)
- Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Penn.)
- University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Knoxville, Tenn.)
- University of Washington (Seattle)
- University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
- Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)
- Wayne State University (Detroit)
- West Virginia University (Morgantown, W.Va.)
To learn more about North America’s premier collegiate automotive engineering competition, visit www.ecocar3.org. Watch the video recap below from the live announcement last night:
