The Ohio State University has taken first place in the final year of EcoCAR 3, an Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition, sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM). This is OSU’s fourth consecutive win. The team earned 895 out of 1000 overall points.

Ohio State EcoCAR built a series-parallel plug-in hybrid electric vehicle powered by E85. The powertrain components included a 2.0-liter engine, five-speed automated manual transmission, 150 kW electric machine, and an 18.9 kWh energy storage system.

EcoCAR 3 is the latest Energy Department Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) series and challenges 16 North American university teams to redesign a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to further reduce its environmental impact, while maintaining the performance expected from this iconic American car. Teams spent the last four years (2014-2018) harnessing those ideas into the ultimate energy-efficient, high performance vehicle.

Year Four finals began with a week of rigorous safety, technical, drive quality and emissions testing at General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. For the second leg of competition, teams headed to southern California for track events, including autocross, acceleration, and consumer appeal at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Teams also spent several days presenting to judges and proving how they have developed into the next generation of engineers and business leaders who are prepared to enter the auto industry and related careers. Industry and government officials judged the presentations.

Following presentations, teams hit Los Angeles roads for a 150-mile over-the-road event where the Chevrolet Camaros were scored based on performance with everyday driving applications. At the end of the second week, students had the opportunity to display their completed hybrid-electric Chevrolet Camaros with a car show at Hollywood’s famed Magic Castle.

West Virginia University and University of Alabama teams finished second and third place, respectively.

Additional sponsors joining the DOE and GM include: MathWorks; National Science Foundation; California Air Resources Board; NXP; AVL Powertrain Engineering; The Bosch Group; ETAS; PACCAR; dSPACE, Inc.; Snap-on Tools; Siemens PLM Software; GKN Driveline; Transportation Research Center (TRC, Inc.); Horiba; DENSO; Champlain Cable Corp.; Woodward; Proterra; Ricardo; Mentor Graphics; New Eagle; Gage; tesa tape; Vector CANtech, Inc.; Delphi Foundation; EcoMotors; Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.; A123 Systems; Flextronics; and Samsung SDI.

EcoCAR 3 sponsors have provided more than $87 million in software, hardware and cash donations to the 16 participating universities throughout the four years.

The 16 competing teams were: Arizona State University; California State University-Los Angeles; Colorado State University; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Georgia Tech; McMaster University; Mississippi State University; Ohio State University; Penn State University; University of Alabama; University of Tennessee; University of Washington; University of Waterloo; Virginia Tech University; Wayne State University; West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.