Student competition advances SUV technology

ARGONNE, Ill. (June 18, 2004) — Although torrential rains in the Midwest made the off-road competition a muddy mess, the weather did not dampen the spirits of university teams competing in the final FutureTruck event June 9-17 at Ford's Michigan Proving Ground.

Of the 15 teams in the competition, University of Wisconsin-Madison took first place by achieving a 33 percent increase in on-road fuel economy and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the stock 2002 Explorer Ford donated to all 15 of the FutureTruck teams from the United States and Canada.

The FutureTruck teams were challenged to re-engineer a 2002 Ford Explorer for the highest fuel economy and lowest emissions – the goal was 25 percent improvement in both categories – while maintaining the performance, utility and safety consumers want.

To meet this challenge, teams designed and installed hybrid-electric systems – an internal combustion engine combined with one or more electric motors and a traction battery. Competing vehicles relied on innovative technologies including advanced engines, lightweight materials and alternative fuels, such as E-85 ethanol and biodiesel. Two teams adapted their truck's internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen.

The winning vehicle, a parallel hybrid from UW-Madison, used an advanced 1.8-liter diesel engine with a sophisticated catalyst system that achieved ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV) level emissions – a first in collegiate vehicle competitions. The UW-Madison Explorer delivered more than 25 mpg (gasoline equivalent) on biodiesel in mixed city and highway on-road vehicle testing and came within 0.4 seconds of the stock Explorer 's acceleration performance over a quarter mile from a standing start.

The Wisconsin team built an aluminum frame to reduce their vehicle's weight by 200 pounds compared to the stock Explorer, despite adding a nickel-metal hydride battery pack and electric motor.

Pennsylvania State won second place with its innovative diesel-emission-reduction system in a parallel hybrid configuration using a 2.5-liter diesel engine with an AC-induction electric motor.

Third place Georgia Tech employed a powerful through-the-road parallel hybrid-electric powertrain that would be easy to install as a factory option. Their design used a large AC induction electric motor to drive the front wheels and a 3-liter, six-cylinder gasoline engine using a five-speed automatic transmission to drive the rear wheels.

Approximately $64,000 and more than a dozen awards were presented at the June 16 awards ceremony.

The competition focused on Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) because more than half of the vehicles sold today are SUVs and light-duty trucks. SUVs are heavier than most vehicle types, and compared to cars, are less energy efficient and emit more greenhouse-gases.

“FutureTruck has set the standard for energy-efficient, full-function SUVs,” said Bob Larsen, director of Argonne's Center for Transportation Research, which manages FutureTruck. “Besides the technology development and demonstration aspect of FutureTruck, team members learn real-world skills in creatively re-engineering their vehicles.

“The many FutureTruck sponsors discover their products used in innovative ways,” Larsen said. “They also find a pool of potential new employees with experience in these advanced automotive technologies together with teamwork and leadership skills. In the past, over 60 percent of competition graduates accepted jobs in the automotive industry. Ford alone has hired more than 200 young engineers from these competitions.”

This is the final year of the five-year-long competition organized and operated by Argonne and sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and major automotive manufacturers and suppliers. Ford sponsored the 2002 through 2004 events; General Motors sponsored the 2000 and 2001 competitions.

Rigorous testing

Students and their FutureTruck vehicles were judged in more than a dozen events. Dynamic events included acceleration, off-road performance, trailer towing, on-road fuel economy and regulated tailpipe emissions. Teams were also judged on oral presentations, consumer acceptability, vehicle design and written technical reports.

The driving events, especially the off-road event, proved more difficult this year due to heavy rains. This year teams were allowed to provide human muscle power for the vehicles that slipped off the hilly course and occasionally got stuck in the mud in the 3-foot-deep pits lined with logs and rocks that were part of this event.

The trailer-towing event challenged the Explorers to pull a 2,000-pound trailer within a specified time period over a 15-mile-long "hill route" that varied from a 7 percent grade for one-half mile, then up short grades as steep as 17 percent.

The On-Road Fuel Economy and Acceleration event evaluated the robustness and fuel economy of each of the modified Explorers. This "real-world" assessment showed how the students' vehicles operate in a "floor-it-and-merge" highway driving environment, as well as in stop-and-go city driving.

The Regulated Tailpipe Emissions event called for the students' innovative technologies to work together precisely as planned and exhibit an exceptional level of control. The difference of a few parts-per-million of one of several pollutants determined winning or losing in the emissions testing event.

"Argonne," Larsen said, "has been instrumental in recruiting the sponsors, establishing the technical requirements, developing the testing methodologies and instrumentation used in evaluating the vehicles, and operating this complex nine-day competition."

The other FutureTruck competitors were:

• California Polytechnic State University
• Cornell University
• Michigan Technological University
• Ohio State University
• Texas Tech University
• University of Alberta
• University of California , Davis
• University of Idaho
• University of Maryland
• University of Tennessee
• Virginia Tech
• West Virginia University

Even though 2004 is the last year of FutureTruck, it is not the end of university advanced vehicle technology competitions. In August, Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility begins with 17 teams from North America selected through a proposal process using real-world engineering processes to manage, design, build and test advanced energy-efficient clean vehicles based on a 2005 compact SUV Chevrolet Equinox. Challenge X is organized by Argonne and sponsored by DOE and GM. The three-year-long competition runs until June 2007.

Argonne has managed more than 45 advanced-vehicle-technology competitions for DOE since 1987, providing significant technical, educational and promotional benefits to DOE and the nation. More than 15,000 students from 60 institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico have participated.

Argonne National Laboratory brings the world's brightest scientists and engineers together to find exciting and creative new solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.