Wednesday, May 1, 2013

TRC Inc. Sponsoring the EcoCAR 2 Year Three Emissions Testing Event


The Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC Inc.) has recently become a competition-level sponsor for the EcoCAR 2 Year Three emissions testing event, where TRC Inc. will be providing the facilities, resources and testing expertise.  EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future is a three-year collegiate engineering competition and the only program of its kind.  The competition’s mission is a vital one: offer an unparalleled hands-on, real-world experience to educate the next generation of automotive engineers.  The competition challenges 15 universities across North America to reduce the environmental impact of a Chevrolet Malibu without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability.
 
Two TRC Inc. representatives will travel to San Diego, California in May 2013, joining representatives from government and industry organizations, to judge the Mechanical and Business portions of the EcoCAR 2 Year Two competition finals.  The Mechanical presentations will be focused on the build and initial testing of the EcoCAR vehicle, while the Business presentations will cover the teams’ entire year of business activities and results.
 
The EcoCAR 2 Year Three emissions testing event will take place at TRC in Spring 2014, where all competition vehicles will be allowed several hours of testing time on a 2 or 4-wheel-drive chassis dynamometer with full emissions measurement capability.  This event will ultimately give teams vital testing time in a controlled environment to provide valuable data for vehicle control strategy calibration and improvement as well as for EcoCAR student theses and dissertations.
 
During the three-year program, EcoCAR 2 teams will follow a real-world Vehicle Development Process (VDP) modeled after GM’s VDP.  The VDP serves as a roadmap for the engineering process of designing, building and refining their advanced technology vehicles. Following a VDP will give the teams an opportunity to improve their vehicles efficiency while retaining consumer acceptability, performance and safety.
 
To learn more about the EcoCAR 2 program, visit www.ecocar2.org.