U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Office

FutureTruck 2004 Competition Concludes with Impressive Results

June 23, 2004

Participants in the 2004 FutureTruck Competition.

They're all winners! Student competitors and competition support staff pose for the official FutureTruck 2004 group photo.

All good things must come to an end, and so it is for FutureTruck, the five-year-long collegiate engineering competition managed by Argonne National Laboratory and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Ford Motor Company, and 15 other organizations. In this last year of the competition, which is being replaced next year by Challenge X, student engineers demonstrated innovative technological approaches to creating "leaner, greener SUVs" out of their Ford Explorer competition vehicles. Teams received their awards at the competition's final awards ceremony in Michigan on June 16. Competition awards included:

  • First Place: University of Wisconsin-Madison, $6,000 prize for a parallel hybrid design using a 1.8L compression-ignition (diesel) engine
  • Second Place: Pennsylvania State University, $5,000 prize for a hybrid design using a 2.5L common-rail diesel engine and an AC induction electric motor
  • Third Place: Georgia Institute of Technology, for a split-parallel through-the-road hybrid design using an AC induction electric motor to drive the front wheels and a six-cylinder gasoline engine to drive the rear wheels
  • Fourth Place: Michigan Technological University
  • Fifth Place: Ohio State University
  • Sixth Place: University of Idaho
  • Best Dynamic Handling: Ohio State University
  • ArvinMeritor Lowest Regulated Tailpipe Emissions: Texas Tech University
  • Lowest Greenhouse Gas Emissions: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • BP Best On-Road Fuel Efficiency: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Best Acceleration: Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Best Technical Report: University of California, Davis
  • Best Oral Presentation: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Best Consumer Acceptability: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Best Vehicle Design Inspection: Pennsylvania State University
  • Best Workmanship: Pennsylvania State University
  • Best Appearing Vehicle: University of Tennessee
  • Dr. Donald Streit Sportsmanship Award: Pennsylvania State University
  • Spirit of the Challenge Award: West Virginia University
  • Most Improved Team: University of Alberta

FutureTruck sponsors also gave out their own special awards, including:

  • National Science Foundation Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award: Dr. Daniel Haworth, Pennsylvania State University, who received $20,000 in funding to be placed in a university account for use in enhancing the integration of the student engineering competition experience into the undergraduate curriculum for the benefit of students
  • Delphi Advanced Powertrain Controls Award 1st Place: University of California
  • Davis Delphi Advanced Powertrain Controls Award 2nd Place: Ohio State University
  • Delphi Advanced Powertrain Controls Award 3rd Place: Michigan Technological University
  • The MathWorks Modeling Award 1st Place: Ohio State University
  • The MathWorks Modeling Award 2nd Place: Pennsylvania State University
  • The MathWorks Modeling Award 3rd Place: Michigan Technological University
  • National Instruments Most Innovative Use of Virtual Instrumentation Award 1st Place: University of Tennessee
  • National Instruments Most Innovative Use of Virtual Instrumentation Award 2nd Place: Texas Tech University
  • National Instruments Most Innovative Use of Virtual Instrumentation Award 3rd Place - Ohio State University
  • Visteon Innovative Use of Electronics Award 1st Place: University of Tennessee
  • Visteon Innovative Use of Electronics Award 2nd Place: Pennsylvania State University
  • Visteon Innovative Use of Electronics Award 3rd Place: University of Wisconsin-Madison

As impressive as the individual team performances was the collective accomplishment of all 15 FutureTruck teams in passing technical inspections and participating in dynamic events while operating in hybrid mode — a FutureTruck first! Six teams had better On-Road Fuel Economy than the control Ford Explorer and the University of Wisconsin-Madison had a fuel economy of 25 miles per gasoline gallon equivalent (a 33% increase over the control Ford Explorer). In addition, ten teams had better greenhouse gas emissions levels than the control Ford Explorer and two demonstrated better emissions levels than the Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) standard.

Congratulations to all of the teams for their tremendous efforts and accomplishments, and thanks to all the sponsors, supporters, faculty, and competition staff for making FutureTruck a huge success!

Sponsors and Supporters

  • AAA Michigan
  • Allen Park Test Laboratory
  • Aluminum Association
  • ArvinMeritor
  • BP
  • Dana Corporation
  • Delphi
  • Ford Motor Company
  • The MathWorks
  • Michigan Proving Ground
  • Motorola
  • National Instruments
  • National Science Foundation
  • Natural Resources Canada
  • Ricardo, Inc.
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • Visteon