Written by: Ashley Kronsell Oller
During Year 3 of the competition, EcoCAR teams are to thoroughly test their newly developed and integrated propulsion systems, which include assessing the energy consumption of each team’s competition vehicle, the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ.
In preparation for the EcoCAR dynamometer testing event hosted by California Air Resource Board (CARB) in March 2025, EcoCAR organizers and Argonne National Laboratory Researchers are working to develop and validate an Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) testing workflow which evaluates energy consumption.
“Energy consumption testing consists of driving a fixed drive cycle in order to quantify how much energy is used to propel a vehicle over the course of the test,” said David Ord, Argonne’s Propulsion Controls and Modeling Lead for EcoCAR. “The goal is to challenge teams to create more energy-efficient vehicles, ultimately improving battery range by reducing energy use.”
While standard energy consumption and range tests require a full depletion of the battery on a dynamometer—an effort that can take over 14 hours—EcoCAR teams will use an abbreviated multi-cycle test to maximize their limited dynamometer time at CARB.
To ensure a seamless process for student testing, Argonne researchers and EcoCAR Sponsors are collaborating to validate the vehicle testing workflow. Last month, Ord traveled to the CARB facility alongside General Motors (GM) to prepare the Cadillac LYRIQ for energy consumption testing. They worked with CARB to establish a robust test setup on their state-of-the-art dynamometers, gathering current and voltage measurements from the vehicle’s high-voltage system to ensure accurate and reliable data collection.
The following week, additional members of the research team from Argonne’s Advanced Energy Technologies Directorate, including Connected and Automated Vehicle EcoCAR Organizer, Kayla Hamilton, Jorge Pulpeiro Gonzalez, and AVTC Alums Miriam DiRusso (EcoCAR 2) and Kevin Stutenberg (Challenge X) joined the effort to begin testing the LYRIQ on CARB’s dynamometer.
The team conducted two types of tests:
- Live XIL-Based Testing: Closed-loop dynamometer testing using simulated sensor inputs.
- Manually driven ACC drive trace replay: Manually driving a custom drive trace generated by an ACC model in-simulation.
“Our tests focused on a combined Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS) and Highway Fuel Economy Driving Schedule (HWFET) to analyze the LYRIQ’s performance while following a lead vehicle during city and highway driving,” said Hamilton. “We collected data from Argonne’s XIL ACC testing workflow to compare energy consumption across different ACC controllers and testing methods, including simulation, manually driven simulated drive traces, and closed-loop XIL dyno testing.”
With pre-event testing now complete, CARB and GM will process and analyze the collected data. EcoCAR organizers will equip teams with the RoadRunner simulation platform, which incorporates simulated lead vehicle data, so teams can continue testing at their universities. These exercises will prepare teams to run the same tests at CARB in March, using their self-developed ACC algorithms to earn CAV energy consumption points for the competition.
“The collaboration between Argonne, CARB, and General Motors is vital in equipping EcoCAR students with the tools and expertise they need to succeed in Year 3,” said Hamilton. “By working together to develop and validate ACC Energy Consumption testing workflows, we’re not only preparing teams for success in this competition but also leading innovative advancements in automated vehicle technologies.”
Stay tuned throughout Year 3 for updates on teams’ advancements in connected and automated vehicle technology.
