EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future

dSPACE Inc. is a platinum sponsor of EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future – a three-year engineering competition challenging students from 16 North American universities to design a powertrain architecture utilizing electric drive vehicle technology.

EcoCAR 2 is the only program of its kind. The competition’s mission is vital – to offer an unparalleled, hands-on, real-world experience to educate the next generation of automotive engineers.

The competition kicks off in the fall of 2011. Each of the 16 student engineering teams will be given a Chevrolet Malibu, donated by General Motors. Each team has been challenged to redesign the vehicle’s powertrain to reduce its environmental impact … this must be done without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability.

During the three-year program, EcoCAR 2 teams will follow the Vehicle Development Process (VDP) modeled after GM. The VDP serves as a roadmap for the engineering process of designing, building and refining advanced technology vehicles.

As part of this effort, dSPACE will be supplying tools for teams to develop and test their vehicle architectures and control strategies, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulators.

 

• EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future
• Inside the Green Garage (Blog)Behind the Scenes of EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future