Mississippi State students premiered the entry for the coming automotive competition. The EcoCAR team has gained attention in the automotive industry for its success in the ChallengeX competition which requires the team to design and create a hybrid vehicle that reduces fuel consumption and reduces emissions.
Composed of over 100 freshmen to graduate students from many different majors, the team is split into six groups: powertrain, mechanical, electrical, emissions, battery integration and outreach.
Matthew Doude, mechanical engineering graduate student, serves as the team leader at MSU. He has been a member of the team for three years, and became involved as an undergraduate. He said the team was starting from scratch this year with a new vehicle, a Saturn VUE.
Roger King, Director of the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, said students are very involved with the EcoCAR.
“The cars of tomorrow will be designed by these students. What they learn during this three-year competition will eventually be translated into those cars,” King said.
MSU’s vehicle will have a 40-mile, all electric range and earn over 100 miles per gallon highway rating. The all-electric batteries can be fully charged on standard 110-volt household outlets in approximately eight hours.
The team competes with 16 universities. MSU is the only SEC school to participate.
“We’re representing Mississippi in the world of engineering,” Doude said.
The team will take the vehicle to Yuma, Ariz., in May 2010. The challenge was to minimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions while retaining performance, safety and consumer appeal.
“[Students] use the tools of the industry hands-on, not just as theoretical stuff in a classroom,” Doude said.
The NeXt Challenge is a three-year advanced vehicle technology engineering competition established by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors.
“EcoCAR is an excellent opportunity for the students and faculty of Mississippi State University and the Bagley College of Engineering to actively engage in the creation of new technologies that can have a lasting impact on our nation’s economy and environment,” King said.
The team earned third place overall honors in the first phase of the competition as well as first place in the mechanical presentation and second in the outreach subcategories.
Students benefit from working with the team because companies like to hire from the competition, Doude said.
“We saw that a lot of the graduates that participate went on to get jobs in the automotive industry,” he said. “Mississippi State established a presence in the auto industry.”
Junior mechanical engineering major Josh Hoop is the battery integration group leader. He said the project is more than just engineering.
“You have to use the skills you learn in the classroom, and then team work skills,” he said. “There’s a lot more to it than just engineering.”
Doude said he has learned much from working with and leading the team.
“I really had to learn a lot about team management and time management. We have to work so closely as a team, we have to get along,” he said. “Most of our students are really busy, so we have to balance how much we ask from our students on our team.”
Working as a group has been part of over all good experience Hoop said.
“It’s really rewarding to see students coming together. It’s students doing the work and we get to work as a group,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity to see students do that kind of stuff.”
Students who want to get involved with EcoCAR team can either e-mail [email protected] or come to a weekly team meetings on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. at CAVS building.
“We always take students, no matter their major. We have freshmen to PhD students,” Doude said. “We want people that are willing to work hard.”