EcoCAR celebrates victory Mississippi State style
Mississippi State’s automotive design team earned a hero’s welcome when it returned to Starkville this summer as the year two champions of EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge. Taking a victory lap around campus with President Mark Keenum and Bagley College of Engineering Dean Sarah Rajala, the team was greeted with ringing cowbells and cheers of support. “It was great to know that we had supporters in Starkville, people following our tweets and wishing us well while we were at competition,” said Tom Goddette. “It was nice to come back to campus and celebrate our victory with everyone.” The team had plenty of reasons to celebrate—153 to be exact. That was the
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number of points separating Mississippi State and its nearest competition. “Everyone in the room kind of gasped when they announced the points,” Goddette, a mechanical engineering senior, recalled. “I don’t think even the organizers expected that kind of a point jump. I know everyone on the team was shocked.” Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors, the EcoCAR competition asks 16 competitively selected teams to re-engineer a donated SUV to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions while maintaining consumer appeal. The first year of the competition evaluated the teams’ designs through computer simulations. The end of the second year took the student designed vehicles on the road. At GM’s Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz., each team’s vehicle was judged for safety, acceleration, handling, and other performance measures.
Mississippi State’s plug-in hybrid vehicle was the first in the competition to pass safety inspection and one of only three to survive the desert heat and complete every event. It earned a 60-mile all-electric range and 118 mpg—exceeding the team’s initial efficiency estimates. Additionally, the Bulldogs were the only ones to maintain the SUV’s cargo space. Other teams lost anywhere from an inch of height to whole rows of seats in order to incorporate their new systems. “Our battery set-up was the envy of most schools,” said team controls group leader Brian Benoy. “People, including the manufacturers of the battery, would stop to ask how we did that.” He explained that A123 Systems donated battery packs to select teams, but it was up to the students to incorporate it into the vehicle’s systems and build a safe housing for it.
www.bagley.msstate.edu