Challenge X 2008
Mississippi State University Wins First Place!
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| Mississippi State University's Challenge X Vehicle |
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman announced on May 14, 2008, that Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss. is the first place winner of Challenge X, in which 17 university teams from across the U.S. and Canada competed to reengineer a General Motors (GM) Chevrolet Equinox Crossover SUV with advanced powertrain configurations. The winner of the competition achieved high fuel economy and low emissions, all while maintaining driver comfort and vehicle performance.
DOE's Argonne National Laboratory provided competition management, team evaluation and technical and logistical support. The Greenhouse gas, Regulated Emissions, and Energy in Transportation (GREET) model, developed at Argonne, was used to assess a well-to-wheel analysis of the greenhouse gas impacts of each technology approach the teams selected.
Department of Energy (DOE), GM and Natural Resources Canada also kicked off EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, a competition set to begin in the fall of 2008 that will challenge 17 university teams to re-engineer a Saturn VUE. (More...)
Background
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| Students from Penn State, Texas Tech and San Diego State showcase their vehicles before the road rally from LA to Anaheim in December, 2007. |
Argonne's Mike Wahlstrom and DOE's Steven Boyd perform a safety inspection on U. Tennessee's vehicle at the Winter Workshop in Los Angeles. |
Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility is a three-year engineering competition that challenges 17 universities across North America to explore vehicle solutions that will minimize energy consumption and reduce emissions. Students will follow General Motor's (GM's) Global Vehicle Development Process and integrate their advanced technology solutions into a Chevrolet Equinox, a GM crossover vehicle that combines elements of both a sport utility vehicle and a passenger car.
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| Challenge X teams contributed a significant number of hybrid vehicles to the Electric Vehicle Symposium Ride & Drive in Anaheim, CA in December 2007. |
University of Akron student talks with DOE Program Manager Lee Slezak about their vehicle's series-parallel 2 by 2 hybrid system. |
Students will spend much of the first year researching, comparing, and selecting advanced technologies that meet the Challenge X goals. Students will use computer modeling tools to compare and select the advanced technologies for the overall design of their vehicles. Years 2 and 3 will build on the modeling and testing results from Year 1. Each team will integrate and refine their advanced powertrain and other vehicle subsystems. Year 2 will focus on powertrain development and demonstration of the energy use and emissions goals of the competition. Year 3 will require further refinement of the vehicle with the goal of delivering a 'showroom' vehicle that addresses the requirements of the consumers.
The finale and finish line ceremony will be on May 21, 2008, in Washington, D.C.
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March 2008
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