Engineering the car of the future

Sixty UW undergrads from schools across campus are teaming up for a national competition to re-engineer the fuel-hungry Chevy Camaro into the hybrid-electric car of tomorrow.

Together We Will

An education from the University of Washington offers a wealth of opportunities to tackle real-life challenges and make a difference in the world. Imagine, for example, joining forces with students from across campus to build a cleaner, more efficient vehicle as part of a national competition.

That’s exactly what a team of engineering, business, design and communications students is doing as part of a four-year EcoCAR 3 challenge. The goal: To convert a Chevrolet Camaro into an advanced hybrid electric vehicle while maintaining the muscle and performance expected from this iconic American car. This is the second time a UW team has been invited to participate in the competition. They finished second nationally the first time out and have their sights set on a first-place finish with EcoCAR 3. Read the full story

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It’s an incredible thing we have to do performance-wise to meet the targets of the competition, and there’s no such vehicle out there. This is what makes it an educational and engineering challenge for us. I’m confident we’ll be able to do it.

— Brian Fabien, EcoCar 3 faculty adviser and professor of mechanical engineering

brian

Brian Magnuson

Engineering Lead
Electrical Engineering

sylvie

Sylvie Troxel

Co-Mechanical Lead
Mechanical Engineering

vincent

Vincent Chan

Co-Mechanical Lead
Mechanical Engineering

james

James Goin

Co-Electrical Lead
Mechanical Engineering

ryan

Ryan Mallory

Controls Lead
Mechanical Engineering

ajay

Ajay Gowda

Modeling and Simulation
Mechanical Engineering

alexander

Alexander Ong

Business Manager
Business

kate

Kate Kitto

Communications Manager
Communications

EcoCAR 2: A look back

A first-time school with a second-place finish

In the spring of 2014, the first team the UW entered in the EcoCAR competition reconstructed a 2013 Chevy Malibu and finished second. The vehicle was a Parallel-Through-The-Road (PTTR) Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), in which a diesel engine powers the front axle and an electric motor powers the back. This design meant easy component packaging, tons of power, all-wheel-drive and an even weight distribution — all with an average 90 miles to the gallon.

A lot of the engineers this spring were working 70 to 80 hours a week on the car in addition to going to school. We’re really proud of the car we built.

— Kate Kitto, sophomore, Communications