EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge

What is EcoCAR?

Beginning in 2008, EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge is a 3-year collegiate advanced vehicle technology engineering competition established by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), and managed by Argonne National Laboratory.

Sixteen Student Teams

Teams from 16 universities across North America will use a real-world engineering process to design and integrate advanced technology solutions into a 2009 Saturn VUE. The competition challenge is to reduce the environmental impact of each vehicle by minimizing the vehicle's fuel consumption and reducing its emissions while retaining the vehicle's performance, safety, and consumer appeal.

A Real-World Approach to Vehicle Design

Students will design and build advanced propulsion solutions that are based on vehicle categories from the California Air Resources Board zero-emissions vehicle regulations. They will explore a variety of cutting-edge clean-vehicle solutions, including full-function electric, range-extended electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell technologies. In addition, students will incorporate lightweight materials into the vehicles, improve aerodynamics, and utilize alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, and hydrogen.

Teams are following a real-world approach modeled after GM's Global Vehicle Development Process (GVDP), giving students valuable experience in real-world engineering practices, resource allocation, and meeting deliverables. While previous student engineering competitions focused primarily on hardware modifications, EcoCAR includes a unique focus on modeling and simulation, as well as subsystem development and testing.

Government and Corporate Sponsors Support Teams

During the three-year program, GM will provide production vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring, and operational support. DOE and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, will provide competition management, team evaluation, and technical and logistical support.

Through sponsoring such advanced vehicle engineering competitions, GM and DOE are helping to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers. In addition, more than 25 corporate sponsors are providing the teams with the hardware, software, training, and support the teams need to integrate technologies into their competition vehicles.

Learn More About EcoCAR

Learn more about EcoCAR by visiting the Web site, or contact Connie Bezanson.