Co-sponsored by Freescale and dSPACE, Inc. and hosted at Freescale’s Oak Hill campus, EcoCAR 2 teams are participating in detailed sessions from competition organizers from General Motors, the U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory. Teams are also taking part in detailed training of sponsor-donated components and software tools from dSPACE, A123 Systems, Freescale, AVL Powertrain Engineering, CD-adapco, Siemens, and Vector.

Over the next few days, EcoCAR 2 teams will be put to the test as they prepare for their first in-person scored presentations, including Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), Outreach, and Business.

Teams had the opportunity to set up their HILs on Wednesday afternoon.

“It was nice to see all of the different HIL set-ups for the teams,” said Whitney Belt, Mechanical Team Member for Purdue University. “We all have the same objective with HIL but each team took it their own unique way.

After a long day of travel, registration, and workshop set-up, teams and sponsors enjoyed a southern feast at Thurman Mansion catered by Salt Lick! As if devouring brisket, BBQ ribs, and southern side dishes weren’t enough, EcoCAR 2 teams heard remarks from co-hosts Freescale and dSPACE, Inc., as well as General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy.

EcoCAR 2 organizers hope teams and sponsors enjoyed the Welcome Dinner and are excited for the rest of the Winter Workshop in Austin, Texas!

Vasavada has always had an interest in vehicles. Growing up with a racing background, he worked on various Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road racing teams throughout high school.  When he was accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he immediately became involved in hybrid electric vehicle development and AVTCs.

“I must say, my favorite moment was winning the 1999 Futurecar Challenge by 300 points over the next competitor,” he said. “My least favorite moment was graduating and having to go to the real world.”

Upon graduation, Vasavada went to work for EFI Technology, a leading supplier of engine management and data acquisition systems. In 2003, he decided he wanted a change and founded Apex Speed Technology.

As founder and president of Apex Speed Technology, one of the largest suppliers of custom control, data logging and wiring harness systems for professional motorsports, high-end custom vehicles and R&D markets, Vasavada gets to witness first-hand the impact young engineers have on today’s vehicle technology.

“Some of the most successful engineers I know combine a technical background with the ability to work with their hands in the field,” he said, “and AVTCs teach this.”

Despite living 2,000 miles away from Wisconsin, Vasavada stays in touch with some of his former AVTC teammates. “The friendships I made during those days have endured,” he said. “I just spent New Year’s with our old electrical group leader!”

Today, Vasavada lives in Venice Beach with his wife and 14-month old son, in whom he tries to instill Wisconsin engineer ‘gumption’.  He appreciates what AVTCs have taught him and hopes he stays in contact with his former teammates for many years to come.

“AVTCs gave me a lot of practice working in the field of competitive environments,” he said. “I sometimes feel like my current career is a DOE AVTC.”

Profiles of all competing companies will be available soon at: http://energy.gov/topinnovator. Don’t forget to read up and vote!

TSC members are teams’ direct contact through each of their organizations and help students find subject matter experts based on their needs. The majority of the members are also competition graduates and previous team or sub-team leaders at their universities.  Team members include:

Argonne National Laboratory

• Kristen De La Rosa – AVTC Director
• Nicole Lambiase – AVTC Mechanical Engineer
• Brian Benoy – AVTC Controls & Simulation Engineer
• Patrick Walsh – Advanced Vehicle Testing and Controls Engineer
• Kimberly DeClark – AVTC Communications and Logistics Manager
• Dana Bubonovich – AVTC Communications and Logistics Coordinator

General Motors

• Steven Gurski – Algorithm Design Engineer / GM Powertrain Technical Lead
• Dan Mehr – Energy Storage Integration Engineer / GM Vehicle Technical Lead

U.S. Department of Energy

• Steven Boyd – Technology Development Manager for the U.S. Vehicle Technologies Program

Natural Resources Canada

• Nikolas Ekstrom – Research Officer / Canadian Technical Lead

Contact information for the TSC is available to team members on the EcoCAR 2 Sharepoint site. The TSC is thrilled to get started as the EcoCAR 2 competition begins with the Year One Kickoff Workshop!

US Drive is an evolution of government-industry collaboration on advanced automotive research and development that has existed for over a decade. Previous alliances  included Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles and Freedomcar. US Drive will build on these partnerships to accelerate the development of advanced vehicle technologies through discussion and combination of resources.

Partners in US DRIVE include EcoCAR sponsors General Motors and the Electric Power Research Institute, and like EcoCAR, US Drive is helping to pave the way toward a cleaner, energy independent future!

Obama also alluded to his goal of having a million electric vehicles on the road, saying that domestic battery innovation was crucial to making electric cars more affordable. The student teams in the EcoCAR competition are making these clean energy technologies of the future possible, and the President mentioned how integral education will be in creating opportunities for scientific breakthroughs.

To read more and watch video of President Obama’s town hall meeting at Facebook, check out the DOE blog post about the event!

Check out the video recap below to see what happened!

These charter members own five of the top ten largest fleets in the country, operating more than 250,000 vehicles between them. Making their service vehicles cleaner will have a massive impact on America’s fuel consumption and environmental footprint, as well as saving the companies money in the long run.

EcoCAR congratulates the Obama administration and the five charter members on this initiative, and we hope the technologies EcoCAR teams are developing today will be in some of the Clean Fleet vehicles of the future!

Take a look at this video to learn more about the National Clean Fleets Partnership:

Under the leadership of Penn State’s outreach coordinator, Allison Lilly, outreach team members are constantly brainstorming, planning and implementing events to promote advanced vehicle technologies. Each week there are events on campus, at local schools and in the community that present the opportunity to talk with people ranging from young children to state and federal officials.

Members have also heavily utilized social media and the team website as tools for two-way communication with community leaders and the general public. In addition to that feedback, the outreach team performed market research, which provides invaluable insights into consumers’ views of the automotive industry “going green.”

The Penn State outreach team will push themselves to finish strong during the remaining weeks of the competition. Even though there’s a shortage of time, there’s no shortage of opportunities—at least not for the dedicated members of Penn State EcoCAR.

Check out the video below to see local middle schoolers enjoying a visit from the team!