Students tackle hybrid competition
UVic EcoCAR team members unveil the donated Saturn Vue vehicle they will use to compete in a continent wide contest called the EcoCAR: The Next Challenge.
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EcoCAR contest challenges UVic engineering crew
Jeff Waldner stayed at the University of Victoria because of a car.
The 23 year old earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the school in April and chose to pursue his masters locally when he learned about the EcoCAR Challenge.
“This is definitely what kept me here,” Waldner said Thursday as he stood in front of the engineering department’s newly acquired Saturn Vue Hybrid.
Engineering students are working on a three-year project that involves completely refitting the vehicle to lessen fuel consumption and emissions.
Seventeen schools in North America were invited to take part in the contest, sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy. UVic team leader Jeremy Wise began working on the project in his third year as a mechanical engineering student.
In year one, team members used computer software to help them determine how to properly execute their idea, while figuring weight, power and emission into the equation.
It’s the same program used by professionals working for companies like GM.
“This competition sets you up for the real world,” Waldner said. “UVic gave us the tools to learn, and now this gives us the leading edge tools to work and the hands-on experience.”
In the eight months that he’s worked on the EcoCAR, Waldner said he’s applied most of what he’s learned in the classroom to the practical aspect of the project.
Now that the students are in year two of the project, the physical work begins.
“I guess gutting it is the first step, and then we have until May to get everything done,” said Waldner.
The team plans to turn the vehicle from a hybrid into an Ethanol Powersplit Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV).
Their goal is to be able to plug the SUV into a wall socket at night, then drive the SUV on battery power for 60 kilometres before it turns over to be fuelled by ethanol.
In May the team will travel to Yuma, Ariz., where GM will put the university teams’ projects through rigorous testing. After that, teams will get to make improvements to their vehicles before another round of testing.
So far, the UVic team was awarded second place overall based on the design and planning stages.
Win or lose, Waldner said the experience is invaluable. It’s not only helping him with his masters thesis – on hybrid vehicle control design – it’s building up his marketable skills.
“I’d love to be able to do this full time after school’s done because companies do the same process. It’s really preparing me for when I’m done,” he said. “It’s a really great opportunity.”
For specs on UVic’s EcoCar project, visit ecocar.uvic.ca
kslavin@saanichnews.com
