The Ohio State University EcoCAR 2 team kicks off year 2 of EcoCAR 2 competition
Columbus, OH- The Ohio State University EcoCAR 2 team will hold a formal ceremony event Wednesday, September 12 at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) for the second year of the EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future, a student engineering competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors. The competition challenges 15 universities across North America to redesign a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu to be more efficient and use less petroleum while maintaining performance, safety and consumer acceptability.
Team leaders will begin the disassembly of the vehicle following the ceremony. The team will be joined by representatives from both the Fisher College of Business and the College of Engineering.
The ceremony will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (ceremony starting at 1:30 p.m.) in the Student Motorsports garage at the Center for Automotive Research, located at 930 Kinnear Road, just west of Ohio State’s main campus. Parking is available in lots in the back and to the east of the center.
The event will feature brief remarks from representatives from Hilliard City schools, government, the College of Engineering, Fisher College of Business, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Center for Automotive Research and other Ohio State departments.
The Ohio State team will begin rebuilding their 2013 Chevrolet Malibu this fall and will have a working vehicle by May of 2013. The team plans to use their 2013 Malibu to build a parallel-series plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. This vehicle will incorporate two electric machines from Parker-Hannifin, an engine that will run off of ethanol (E85), and a large battery pack from A123 Systems that will allow the team to have nearly 50 miles of all-electric range. Additionally, the team will be automating a manual transmission and will incorporate a Brusa charging system into the vehicle. The OSU EcoCAR vehicle will capable of operating in both charge depleting and charge sustaining modes depending on the battery state of charge and vehicle speed.
The OSU EcoCAR team is excited to begin the disassembly and building process of their 2013 Chevrolet Malibu after finishing 2 place Year One’s final competition, which was held this past May in Los Angeles, California.
Shawn Midlam-Mohler, OSU EcoCAR Faculty Advisor said, “Ohio State’s performance in Year One of EcoCAR 2 is a great testimony to the quality of Ohio State’s students. It is difficult to convey the level of dedication of the team or the magnitude of their technical achievements but their impressive list of competition awards comes pretty close.”
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About OSU EcoCAR 2
The OSU EcoCAR 2 team is a student organization at Ohio State that is currently participating in the EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors. This three-year engineering competition challenges 15 universities from across North America to redesign a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu to use less petroleum, have fewer emissions, while maintaining consumer acceptability and appeal. More information about the EcoCAR 2 competition can be found at www.ecocar2.org or on the Green Garage Blog at www.greengarageblog.org.
