Students win a spot in prestigious clean transportation program

July 8, 2014 0 By John Max

Arizona State University - clean transportation program

Students from the Arizona State University will participate in DOE program

Engineering students from the Arizona State University have been accepted into a program that is meant to create an energy efficient vehicle using clean fuels. The EcoCar 3 team, as t hey are called, may be building a hydrogen-powered vehicle, but this depends largely on the sponsors that will be involved in the program. Once the program begins in earnest, the team will begin releasing information concerning the type of vehicle they want to build and how this vehicle will take form.

Program to focus on making the Chevrolet Camaro more efficient

The program is called  Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition EcoCar 3 and is a four-year competition amongst university students from around the U.S. A Chevrolet Camaro is being used for the program and students are tasked with transforming this vehicle into one that produces zero-emissions through the consumption of alternative fuel sources. The Camaro is notoriously fuel hungry, only able to travel approximate 20 miles per gallon of gasoline. This makes the vehicle somewhat ideal for academic experiments in clean transportation. If students can solve the Camaro’s fuel efficiency problems, they have a chance to win the overall competition.

16 universities throughout the country have won spots in the program

Currently, the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors are the primary sponsors of the university’s program. The Argonne National Laboratory was responsible for fielding the applications coming from universities that were interested in participating in the program. The program itself is open to universities throughout the country and more than 100 applications were received by the Argonne National Laboratory, of which 16 were accepted into the program.

Fuel cell vehicles could be ideal for experimentation because of their current problems with efficiency

There is a great deal of interest surrounding fuel cell vehicles currently,  largely due to the fact that many of the world’s most prominent automakers have plans to release such vehicles in the coming years. Fuel cell vehicles are still in a stage of infancy as far as their technology and efficiency is concerned, however, which makes them ideal subjects for experimentation.

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