From May 17 to May 24 this year, UW’s Alternative Fuels Team, UWAFT, competed in the first stage of the three-year-long EcoCAR 2 design competition. EcoCAR 2 is a sequel competition to the 2008-2011 EcoCAR challenge. The goal is to prepare future automotive engineers to crate more environmentally friendly automobile designs to the traditional vehicles. The competitions goals are to reduce emissions while maintaining a high standard of performance and safety. The first EcoCAR competition focused on hydrogen fuel cell technology and the EcoCAR 2 focuses on electric vehicles. The competitions are sponsored by the US Department of Energy and General Motors.
The competition mimics a real-world three-year vehicle development process. After each year, the teams meet and compete in the areas of business, technology, and outreach. EcoCAR 2 lasts from 2011-2014 and, as such, UWAFT just finished their first year of the competition and traveled to sunny California to present it. The first year was all about design. Mathworks, a major sponsor of the event, let teams use its automotive simulator to test their designs. Last year, fifteen teams qualified to compete in EcoCAR 2, with UWAFT being one of two Canadian teams. UWAFT came into the competition being first in all three categories, and after competing last month in Hollywood, they are still first in business and outreach, and third overall. Their final score was an incredible 859/1000. Aside from the $25,000 given to carry out the project, the UWAFT won over $10,000 in cash prizes from the nine awards they won for their year one work.
UWAFT has an impressive diversity of members. The technology team is the largest component, with over thirty members from almost every engineering discipline. Their sub-groups work on either the electronics, the vehicle control, or the mechanical design. The UWAFT outreach team has six members from Environment and Business. They handle public outreach, education, media coverage, and promotion by social media. The business team consists of eight MBA students from Laurier. They handle sponsorships and team fundraising.
Now that they are heading into year two of the competition, each team will be given a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu which they will have to strip out and re-build with their design. The general design is a power train-series plugin hybrid car. It should be able to go 65 km on its battery, at which point it switches to ethanol power while a generator recharges the battery. It will be judged on acceleration, handling, braking, environmental impact, emissions, and fuel economy. This summer, UWAFT will take apart the Malibu and, in the fall, they will receive software training while implementing their design. By this winter, they will compete in a high temperature competition in Yuma Arizona to prove that the car is viable in extreme weather.
Being a part of the UWAFT team has been a great advantage to its members for finding jobs. With a 98% employment rate upon graduation for UWAFT members, environmental automotive design is definitely in demand. Mark Goody, an Environmental Studies masters student and head of the UWAFT outreach team, said that “no other graduate of EE will have the 4 year experience” of designing a vehicle entirely from well-to-wheel. Let’s cheer on UWAFT as they progress through the next two years of EcoCAR 2!
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