Backgrounder: UVic's EcoCar Is Ready To Roll
EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge:
• EcoCAR is a three-year collegiate student engineering competition that focuses on vehicle integration of advanced propulsion technologies. In this year two of the competition, teams incorporated their unique powertrains into a Chevy EcoCAR. During the last year of the competition, teams must refine their vehicles to near-showroom quality.
• The competition challenges 16 universities across North America to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles by designing, developing and implementing a vehicle propulsion system that minimizes fuel consumption and emissions and encourages energy diversity, while still maintaining utility, safety and performance.
• Students use real-world engineering processes to design and integrate their advanced technology solutions into a Chevy EcoCAR. This real-world approach gives students valuable hands-on experience in advanced vehicle technology engineering that will help prepare them to make valuable contributions to the automotive industry.
• The EcoCAR Challenge was established by the United States Department of Energy and General Motors. It is being managed by Argonne National Laboratory and is partially funded by the Government of Canada.
University of Victoria EcoCAR Team:
• UVic is one of only three Canadian universitiesand the only university on the North American West Coastparticipating in the competition.
• At the end of the first year of competition, UVic’s EcoCAR team placed second overall, with top-place honours in technical reports, computer modelling, electrical systems and media relations.
• The 20-member UVic EcoCAR team is comprised of electrical, mechanical, computer and software engineering students as well as business and humanities students.
UVic’s Winning Design: Extended Range Hybrid Electric Vehicle
1. 4-cylinder Ecotec engine kicks in when the battery runs out; can run using E85 fuel.
2. Two-mode transmission optimizes the engine’s power and efficiency.
3. Regenerative braking harnesses braking energy and stores it while driving.
4. Electric motor directly propels the vehicle, producing zero emissions.
5. Lithium-ion battery pack allows the car to run solely on electricity for 65 km.
UVic’s participation in the EcoCAR Challenge builds on 10 years of successful fuel cell and hybrid vehicle research. This includes developing advanced modelling tools to understand multiple-mode power trains, creating an electric and fuel cell testing platform to speed the transfer of technology from the lab to industry, and establishing a unique green vehicle research and training facility that will draw researchers from across the continent.
For more information visit www.ecocar.uvic.ca or www.ecocarchallenge.org
Facebook Page: UVic EcoCAR Team
Twitter: UVicEcoCAR.