Given enough time and money, any grease monkey can design a fuel-efficient, low-emissions car. Designing one that consumers will actually buy, however, is a challenge that usually has engineers and marketing types screaming at each other.
Meeting that challenge is the point of Challenge X, a contest General Motors and the Department of Energy host each year to encourage the next generation of automotive engineers to design the cars we might buy tomorrow. They're given a Chevrolet Equinox and told to create an amazingly clean and efficient car people would buy. No funky aerodynamics, no skinny tires, no batteries that die after 20 miles. And make sure it's got cup holders.
For the second time in a row, the team from Mississippi State won. How'd they do it?
They gave the Equinox a through-the-road parallel hybrid electric drivetrain powered by a 1.9-liter direct injection turbodiesel that ran on B20 biodisel. The drivetrain boosted fuel economy by 38 percent over the production vehicle, which gets 19 mpg.
Wisconsin State took second with strikingly similar formula: a through-the-road parallel hybrid electric vehicle with a 1.9-liter GM direct injection turbo diesel engine fueled by B20. And guess what? The third place team used roughly the same drivetrain.
Most of the 17 teams opted for turbodiesel hybrid drivetrains. A smaller, more fuel-efficient turbodiesel was available, and some teams used it, but computer modeling showed the trade off performance and efficiency was pretty significant.
Modeling was key. While some teams struck out with determined ideas about technology - hats off to the University of Waterloo and its hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain that drives better than GM's - most teams arrived at their formula through computer modeling.
The time and cost savings of modeling are obvious. But the limitations of modeling become apparent in the various X Challenge tests that were held over 12 days and included drag racing, autocross, a road rally to measure fuel economy and emissions and, of course, consumer acceptability.
Would you buy production versions of any of these vehicles? When fuel spikes north of $6 a gallon, these Challenge X science projects will look mighty tempting.
*Photo courtesy Mississippi State University.
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