Cal State L.A. engineering students to build a zero-emissions vehicle to compete in EcoCAR 2
Los Angeles, CA – Building on its legacy of champion competition vehicles, Cal State L.A’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology (ECST) has been selected to build a zero-emissions vehicle for the EcoCAR 2 Plugging In to the Future international competition.
EcoCAR 2 is a three-year U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) competition that provides engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate cutting-edge automotive technologies. The competition challenges 16 North American universities to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability.
“Our EcoCAR 2 team will actively participate in outreach programs promoting the competition and the advanced propulsion technologies it represents. ESCT students regularly host K-12 students in a variety of venues, work with community colleges on joint projects, and cooperate with the local community and industry,” said David Blekhman, an associate professor in ECST who is leading the team.
EcoCAR 2 is a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to state-of-the-art technologies and participate in the development of 21st century automotive industry solutions.
All the student teams will utilize a vehicle donated by General Motors as the integration platform for their vehicle designs. They will be encouraged to explore a variety of powertrain architectures and follow a real-world engineering regimen modeled after GM’s Global Vehicle Development Process.
For control and communications, the team will explore adopting mobile-distributed computing platforms similar to iPad. These systems will be designed to assure vehicle, passenger, and pedestrian safety, and effective transportation systems integration. The vehicle will also be developed to meet the stringent Zero Emissions Vehicle standards as categorized by the California Air Resources Board.
EcoCAR 2
Established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), EcoCAR 2’s mission is to educate the next generation of automotive engineers through a hands-on, real-world engineering experience. The competition challenges 16 North American universities to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability. General Motors provides production vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The DOE and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation, technical and logistical support.
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 215,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu