OSU Engineering Students Win First Place in Automotive Tech Project

A team of OSU Engineering students beat out 16 other teams from around the world in the first phase of the U.S. Department of Energy’s EcoCAR competition.  The NeXt Challenge is a competition to improve automotive technology in which students must re-engineer a 2009 Saturn Vue to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions while retaining performance and consumer appeal. 

By winning the competition, the OSU team earned a new Saturn Vue and a spot in the second phase of the competition which will take place at Arizona’s Yuma Proving Ground. 

There is only one graduating senior member on the award-winning team so that bodes well for the team as it enters the next two phases of the competition. 

“Not bad for a national championship year,” said Giorgio Rizzoni, director of OSU’s Center for Automotive Research.  “These students are making it possible for GM to reinvent itself and become a success story again.” 

The team’s vehicle is an electrical car that runs off a battery that plugs into a wall at home for recharging.  The vehicle can transition to running off of E85 ethanol after the battery runs out.  In August the team will receive major components, such as engines donated by Honda, to begin preparing them to go inside the Vue once it arrives. 

The NeXt Challenge is sponsored by the D.O.E., General Motors, Natural Resources, Canada and other sponsors. 

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