EcoCar 2 is a three year competition sponsored by GM and the Department of Energy which has engineering and business students re-engineer a vehicle. There are 15 schools competing and I am one of the team members from Cal State Los Angeles. This brief diary is about what we as a team are doing as part of the competition and how you might be able to help.
(This picture was taken in Hollywood as part of the Year 1 Final Competition)
Parallel Through The Road Electric Hybrid
Our team chose the PTTR Electric Hybrid architecture. This architecture has an electric drive train in the rear axle and a traditional internal combustion engine driving the front axle. For our particular design we have chosen a flex fuel engine that can also use E85 giving our vehicle extra flexibility. Our vehicle will also be a plug in hybrid, it will have a similar range as the Chevy Volt in that it can drive for about 40 miles on a single charge, after this initial range it will behave like a regular hybrid, having the engine charge the battery packs as the vehicle drives and brakes.
Outreach Efforts
Another aspect of the competition is teaching Jr High and High School students about careers in Math, science and sustainable technologies. We have already been to several schools and have had positive reactions to the materials we have presented. You can check out of photos on facebook to take a look at some of our efforts. (Facebook.com/CalStateLAEcoCAR2)
It would help us a lot if you spoke to your friends about our efforts in Los Angeles. You can "Like us" on Facebook to keep informed about what is going on or if you are in the Los Angeles area and are having a sustainable or green event let us know and we might be able to join you and talk about what we are doing as part of the competition, our contact information is on the facebook page.