The Purdue EcoCAR 2 team has spent this week in Yuma, Arizona, home of the General Motors Desert Proving Ground, as part of the Year Two Competition. The first week of competition has focused on tests and inspections. So far, the team has placed second in the Best Modeling and Simulation presentation.
They will move on to San Diego, California, May 19-23 for the second stage of the competition. They will give final presentations from the technical, business and communications teams.
Fourteen Purdue students and three faculty are representing the EcoMakers team at the competition. Gary Bertoline, dean of the College of Technology, visited the team and watched some of the competition unfold late this week.
Purdue University is one of 15 North American schools participating in EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future, a three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), that offers students real-world experience in an effort to educate the next generation of automotive engineers. EcoCAR 2 challenges university students to reduce the environmental impact of a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, donated by GM, without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability.
Purdue's competitors include: California State University – Los Angeles, Colorado State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, University of Victoria, University of Washington, University of Waterloo, Virginia Tech and Wayne State University.
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