Goal
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM) as well as Natural Resources Canada and others, EcoCAR will challenge university engineering students across North America to re-engineer a Saturn VUE to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining the vehicle’s utility, safety, and performance. Students will design and build advanced propulsion solutions that are based on the vehicle categories from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) regulations. They will be encouraged to 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,
they will incorporate lightweight materials into the vehicles, improve aerodynamics and utilize alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen. Using this approach, EcoCAR will explore pathways for future vehicles while giving the student participants the knowledge and experience they need to rapidly develop critical engineering skills and become the next generation of leaders in the automotive industry. By the end of the competition, the sponsors expect fully developed vehicles equivalent to prototypes ready for a production decision.

Student teams will construct and demonstrate vehicles that, when compared to the stock production vehicle:

• Incorporate technologies that reduce petroleum energy consumption on the basis of a total fuel cycle well-to wheel (WTW) analysis
• Increase vehicle energy efficiency
• Reduce criteria and WTW greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria emissions
• Maintain consumer acceptability in the areas of performance, utility, and safety