The Challenge :

The Challenge

The freedom that personal mobility provides is a building block of America's culture and strength. Over the last decade, the American automotive customer market has tended toward larger family-sized vehicles because of the utility they provide over passenger cars that get better fuel economy. At the same time, there has been a greater demand to reduce energy consumption and vehicle emissions. As a result, the auto industry, the U.S. government, and the academic community have been working together, through a series of competitive programs, to develop and explore advanced vehicle technologies that address important energy and environmental issues.

Since 1987, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sponsored more than two dozen competitions challenging thousands of engineering students to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions while maintaining the safety, performance, utility, and consumer appeal of a variety of vehicles.

- Source http://www.challengex.org

Challenge X is a hybrid vehicle design competition sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Only 17 teams were chosen nationwide to participate in this intensely beneficial project. The three-year, student-based engineering competition calls for the teams to re-engineer a production model compact sport-utility vehicle, the Chevy Equinox, to reduce energy consumption and decrease emissions while maintaining its performance.

This program will give students the opportunity to participate in hands-on research and development with the assistance of mentorship and technological support from GM. Students working on this project will be prepared to enter into and contribute to the high-paced world of automotive engineering.

Phase 1: Modeling/Simulation and Sub-system Development

To emphasize the importance of the design phase in vehicle development and the large amount of engineering design performed in a virtual or math-based computing environment before any work on hardware is initiated, Year One of Challenge X focused on the use of math-based modeling tools for vehicle design and vehicle and subsystem control.  During much of the first year, teams conducted extensive literature review and research, comparing and selecting advanced technologies which meet the Challenge X goals. Computer-based math modeling tools were used to objectively compare and select the advanced technologies that they will use in the overall design of their Challenge X vehicles. Included in this analysis is not only the vehicle drivetrain components and control systems, but also the emissions and "well-to-wheel" analysis which helped teams select their alternative fuel. This analysis included upstream energy use and emissions produced from refining, as well as regulated vehicle emissions.

Phases 2 and 3: Vehicle Integration and Development

The final two years of Challenge X focus on the next key phases of the vehicle development process – vehicle integration and full vehicle development. In Years Two and Three each university team will integrate and refine their advanced powertrain and other vehicle subsystems into their Equinox. Year Two focuses on powertrain development , integration, and demonstration of the energy use and emissions goals of the competition. Year Three will require further refinement of the vehicle with the goal of delivering a "showroom" vehicle that addresses consumer expectations. At the conclusion of each competition year, teams will be judged on their execution, progress toward meeting the Challenge X goals and ability to predict their performance using math-based tools.

Phase 4: Consumer Acceptability

A fourth year to the competition has been added by the national sponsors. Details will be announced shortly.  The competition will end with a rally of all teams to Washington D.C.

Please see our contact page for information on how to get involved or help our team through sponsorship, or click here.

To view Challenge X's quick facts and background click here.