You Know You’re An EcoCAR 3 Participant When…

Sixteen universities compete in EcoCAR 3, a four-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors. While students come from all over North America, we do have some uniting characteristics.

If you find yourself nodding “oh yes” to any of the following statements, you might just be an EcoCAR 3 participant!

1. You can be woken up at 3am and you’d still perfectly belt out “EcoCAR 3 is a four year engineering competition sponsored by GM and the US Department of Energy…..”
2. You never get tired of casually slipping a “Yeah there’s going to be a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro in our lab no big deal” into any conversation.
3. You attend somewhere around 3,000 meetings per week.
4. You think about taking revenge on football losses by competing with those schools at final competition.
5. You forget your friends’ birthdays, but can recite all of your yearly deliverables by heart.
6. Your friends find that YouTube video of you speaking about your team and they keep referencing it all the time, “Hey does this pizza look like a real world, hands-on experience that is unattainable in a classroom environment?”
7. Your friends love all the free stuff you get from workshops and competitions!
8. You get to travel the country (Columbus, Austin, Seattle, Boston, Yuma and hopefully Vegas).
9. You re-read the rules for the hundredth time and realize that there is something that you haven’t addressed in your report due tomorrow.
10. You think it is perfectly fine to practice your presentation by talking to yourself in a room full of strangers.
11. It’s not a charger, it’s the BRUSA. It’s not the battery pack, it’s A123.
12. You thought you could actually get work done over break.
13. You know that the only sensible choice for a hybrid Camaro is a V8.
14. Your friends ask you when is the car coming and all you can say is soon (waiting patiently).
15. You found the sponsor social to be way more productive than any expo ever has been.
16. You’re never done. It’s a continuum.
17. Writing these has started to worry you about the deadlines…

The above is as told by Pramit Baul, the Electrical Team Lead of the Virginia Tech EcoCAR 3 team. Originally from Kolkata, India, Pramit is in his second year of graduate school at VT with plans to graduate this spring. In his free time, Pramit enjoys bike riding and trying new things.

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Cal State LA EcoCAR 3 at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show

It’s that time of year again! No, it’s not Thanksgiving just yet, but the Los Angeles Auto Show is back in town and the Cal State LA EcoCAR 3 team gained access to the Press & Trade Days from November 16-19. Held at the LA Convention Center, the Auto Show was in the heart of Downtown LA. Several EcoCAR 3 team members found the time in between classes to head over to get a sneak peek at all exhibitions before the Show opened to the public Friday, November 20.

The Press & Trade Days were packed with various events, including the Connected Car Expo (CCE) at the JW Marriot, the event preceding the official opening of the LA Auto Show. On Tuesday, November 17, Dr. David Blekhman, Cal State LA’s EcoCAR 3 Lead Faculty Advisor and Calvin Qui, a 3^rd year mechanical engineering student and EcoCAR ambassador, attended the CCE with a university partner, the Advanced Transportation Center, to discuss the competition as well as the university’s other green transportation projects, such as its Hydrogen Fuel Station on campus. The Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti made the welcome address for all attendees, most of whom were automotive startups hoping to make their marks in the industry. Brian Cooley of CNET and designated CCE Emcee followed, introducing the opening Keynote speaker, the ride-sharing Lyft Co-Founder & President John Zimmer. On his experience at CCE, Qui said “It was amazing to see how invested the community is in constantly improving the quality of transportation. Being here has helped me reinforce my knowledge of the current state of automotive technology advancements and has given me insight into where it could potentially be going. It’s really exciting.”

Communications Co-Manager Carol Mamon attended the Press Conference for the 2016 Green Car of the Year Award. Preceding the announcement of the award, the ROEV Association, a collaboration of automotive industry stakeholders whose goal is to make public electric vehicle charging stations more widely accessible for all, was introduced. “It was great to see leading industry stakeholders make transportation even greener. Hearing ROEV’s plans makes me that much prouder to be part of the EcoCAR competition,” Mamon said. Following the ROEV announcement, Jay Leno of the popular YouTube series turned network show Jay Leno’s Garage, helped announce the winner, The Chevrolet Volt.

The LA Auto Show is in town until Sunday, November 29. More Cal State LA EcoCAR members will be heading to the Show throughout the week, look out for more pictures from the show on the team’s Facebook page!

Written By: Carol Mamon

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Brand New GMG Christmas Merchandise Available Now!

Looking for something unique to wear to your next ugly Christmas sweater party? OK, these aren’t all ugly, but you can pick from our new Gas Monkey Christmas merchandise. Click any image below to order online. Yes, we ship internationally. All domestic orders must be placed by midnight CST December 6 to arrive before Christmas. GYSOT!

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MSU EcoCAR 3 Visits with Boys & Girls Club of Starkville

The Mississippi State University EcoCAR 3 team recently visited with the students of the Nano Club at the Boys & Girls Club of Starkville. The MSU EcoCAR 3 team challenged the students to find alternative methods of propelling a toy car through the construction of a Rube Goldberg Machine.

What is Nano Club?

Nano Club is an outreach program at the Boys & Girls Club of Starkville that exposes minority youth in grades six through nine to careers related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Founded in 2011 by Dr. Tonya Stone of the Mississippi State University Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nano Club is helping ignite students’ interests in STEM related career opportunities.

What is a Rube Goldberg machine?

A Rube Goldberg machine is an apparatus that is purposefully over-engineered to perform a simple task in an unnecessarily complicated manner.

The Activity:

The Nano Club students were split into four separate teams. The teams were then given a kit of miscellaneous office supplies, recycled materials, and a 30 minute window of time to create their Rube Goldberg machine. The goal was to propel a toy car across the “finish line” through the use of the Rube Goldberg machine. The team that successfully propelled their toy car across the finish line with the most steps in the process was declared the winner. Teams had to implement at least three steps in their machine and were only allowed one human interaction or touch to initiate the machine’s process.

Similar to the MSU EcoCAR 3 team, students at Nano Club developed unique methods of propelling their vehicles. The students of Nano Club did an outstanding job constructing their Rube Goldberg machines. Students were free to be as creative as they wished and implemented some unique design concepts.

By partnering with Nano Club at the Boys & Girls of Starkville, the MSU EcoCAR 3 team is helping expose minority youth to the various career opportunities in STEM fields. The MSU EcoCAR 3 team hopes to partner with Nano Club again in the future and continue to impact the youth of the Starkville community. We hope to one day see these students working on teams in future Advanced Vehicular Technology Competitions.

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What’s On My Desk? ERAU’s Dr. Patrick Currier Shares

Patrick Currier is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach Campus. Although originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he first attended Tennessee Technological University where he earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and then continued his education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where he completed his Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, with an emphasis in unmanned systems. Along with teaching full time, Dr. Currier is also in his third year as the faculty advisor for Embry-Riddle’s EcoCAR 3 team, the EcoEagles. In this edition of “What’s On My Desk,” Dr. Currier shares the stories and meanings behind six objects found around his office.

This is a photo of a friend of mine, Amy Elliott (Dr. Elliott now actually), who attended school with me both in Tennessee and Virginia. I asked her to sign this photo after she received her Doctorate after she became a minor celebrity on a few TV shows.

This is a trophy I was awarded for EcoCAR. I’m in my third year with EcoCAR and I received this award for “Outstanding Incoming Faculty Advisor” last year during EcoCAR.

A mousetrap-but not for mice! One of the projects I had my students work on this semester for Senior Design required the use of a mousetrap. The trap had to be made into a vehicle with the spring providing the source of power. Students got to race their designs at the end.

The engineer hat: I have this hat (so do others) because of a joke from a colleague of mine. These hats are supposed to let people know who the engineers are…no, I don’t actually wear it!

Despicable Me playing cards: I have these Minion cards because of a project I worked on here at ERAU as a part of our Robotics Association team. We built a 16-foot fully autonomous boat and named it Minion. Last year we got to take it to Singapore for the Maritime RobotX Challenge, where we placed fourth overall.

A unique computer mouse: I previously worked with Caterpillar for a couple of years; one of the places that we got to perform tests was Tucson.

Written By: Alli Ulrich

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The Powertrain Plans Are In

It’s official.

Our 16 teams now have their marching orders in place for the remaining three years. They have finalized their engine plans and are gearing up to receive their 2016 Chevrolet Camaros donated by General Motors.

To imagine a greener future for this iconic car, the teams spent a considerable amount of time researching the needs and expectations of their regional consumer base. They looked at psychographic, demographic and socioeconomic factors to gain a thorough understanding of how best to design and market the ultimate energy-efficient, high-performance Camaro.

Using this insight, they submitted their top three choices for architecture designs (powertrain and fuel) to the program organizers who will now pool together the resources to get the hardware, software and mentors needed to make the competitors’ dreams a reality.

The teams could explore a wide variety of powertrain configurations ranging from a pure electric vehicle to a traditional hybrid vehicle. For fuel, the teams could select from the following options:

1. E10 – a low-level blend composed of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline;
2. E85 – a renewable fuel made from plant material that is a gasoline-ethanol blend containing 51 to 83 percent ethanol; and,
3. B20 – a common biodiesel bend with 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel.

While the EcoCAR 3 vehicles remain prototypes throughout the competition, this exercise in selecting a target market audience and designing a vehicle’s architecture mirrors the real-world product development process.

To our surprise, 15 of the 16 teams envisioned a very similar green Camaro of the future: a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) powered by E85. A PHEV has an internal combustion engine, one or more motors and is recharged using the electrical grid. Typically, PHEVs use electricity first and once the battery is depleted, the engine turns on and the fuel is used operating like a traditional hybrid vehicle.

Embry-Riddle’s Series Parallel PHEV Design

The one team that bucked the trend is the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They are pursuing a hybrid electric vehicle powered by E10.

Here is the list of participating schools and the vehicle architecture they will be perfecting over the next three years:

• University of Alabama – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Arizona State University – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• California State University, Los Angeles – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Colorado State University – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Georgia Institute of Technology – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• McMaster University – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Mississippi State University – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• The Ohio State University – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Pennsylvania State University – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville – Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E10
• Virginia Tech – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• University of Washington – Series Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• University of Waterloo – Series-Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• Wayne State University – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85
• West Virginia University – Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle powered by E85

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