Congratulations are due to the university students from Ohio State University, who earned top marks at the 2009 finals of the EcoCar: The NeXt Challenge Competition.
Their design of an extended range electric vehicle took first place out of 17 universities in the US and Canada that competed in the first milestone of this three-year competition. The competition has challenged university engineering students to re-engineer a 2009 Saturn VUE to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while retaining performance and consumer appeal.
During the first year, students were tasked with creating innovative concepts for their vehicle design and using advanced software and computer modelling they tested and refined the vehicles under real world conditions.
Ohio State’s design was powered by a 1.8litre engine and fuelled by E85 ethanol. The next generation design would feature a 300 per cent increase in fuel economy over the production four cylinder model.
Second place went to the University of Victoria, which created another extended range electric vehicle that runs on E85 ethanol. Mississippi State University scooped third place with another extended range vehicle fuelled by B20 bio-diesel.
The next stage of the competition will see students use their powertrains in the Saturn VUE, while the third year focuses on refining the vehicles to near showroom quality.
