Findings h u m m i n g h y b r i d
GREEN LIGHT FOR
GREEN CARS
BY JULIE GARNER
❉
Students competing internationally to engineer an environmentally friendly car
IMAGINE MAKING A 50-MILE COMMUTE in a Chevy Malibu that is
Each of the 15 teams will work on the same model of Chevy Mali-
using its electric motor, then shifting into its hybrid diesel engine for
bu. (The UW team’s car will be delivered this month.) The students
another 400 freeway miles—all on one tank of fuel.
will strip out the drive train and motor and replace them with their
Sound too good to be true? Not if the UW EcoCAR 2 team has its way. More than 40 UW students from a variety of disciplines are
kind of hybrid,” Crain explains. “The way it works is, the front axle
building a car for the future as part of the EcoCAR 2 competition, an
can operate under diesel-engine power alone. And on the rear, we
international contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy
have electric power. The only connection is through the road. We
and General Motors Co. It is a three-year college engineering com-
can drive completely on electric power or completely on diesel.”
petition in which 15 universities work to reduce the environmental impact of a Chevy Malibu. The UW competed with hundreds of schools across the country to
Although teams from different universities are competing for the grand prize, Fayer says the work is more collaboration than competition. “If one university is having a problem, it’s not bad form to
be selected as an EcoCAR 2 team. Each team received $25,000 from
call another school and troubleshoot or get tech support. We all
the two sponsors, and the UW team was given another $25,000 by
want to work together and get each other’s cars
the UW Department of Mechanical Engineering.
running,” he says.
Trevor Fayer and Trevor Crain, first-year master’s students in
Each team has to complete
mechanical engineering, wrote the UW proposal and are driving
a series of milestones
the technical aspects of the project. While students from various
and there
engineering disciplines are handling the project’s technical aspects, students from the Foster School of Business and other parts of the university are getting real-world experience doing website work, graphic design, presentation preparation, community outreach and fundraising.
22
own fuel-efficient, low-emission design. “Our vehicle is a different
UW
150 Ye ars