Friends of EcoCAR:

Welcome to the second report from Year 1 of the EcoCAR competition!  
The first leg of the competition is being held in Toronto, between June 7th and 12th.

Today’s report is devoted to explaining the scope of the competition and the scoring system.
Yesterday, Monday, officials from the U.S. DOE, GM and the city of Toronto welcomed the team in an opening ceremony held in a public square.

The rest of the day was spent practicing and refining the various presentations that will take place over the next three days.  Please see the descriptions below to understand the scope of each of the elements of the competition.

Go Bucks!
GR

SCORED EVENTS

Controls Event Presentation - 80 Points

Event Captain: Jim Kolhoff – Director, Powertrain Transmission Controls – General Motors

The Controls Event Presentation is focused on evaluating the
selection and design of each team’s controls system architecture,
their control and diagonstic strategy, and their simultion results
for meeting the team and competition goals. This presentation
is designed to evaluate the effectiveness with which the team
has executed the Year One controls deliverables and provide
a summary of the team’s control system design progress for
the first year. Teams will give their controls presentations to a
team of government and industry judges, articulating how they
achieved the Year One controls deliverables and will demonstrate
the analysis and simulation methods they used to select of the
elements of their control system.

Electrical Systems Presentation 80 Points

Event Captain: Ron Weiss – Engineering Manager, Hybrid Powertrain Electronics – General Motors

The Electrical Systems Presentation is a technical presentation to a
team of government and industry judges detailing the electric drive
system. The electric drive system is the heart of electric vehicles
(both hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles), which consists
of electric motors, power electronics, and electronic controls.. This
event evaluates how well a team’s electrical system satisfies their
performance requirements, what trade-offs were made, and if their
integration plans are production-ready.

Hardware-in-The-Loop Evaluation 150 Points

This event is scheduled for today, Tuesday.  The presentation was given earlier this morning by John Kruckenberg, ECE senior, and by Adalbert Wolany, Visiting Scholar from the University of Stuttgart.

Event Captain: Michael Wahlstrom – Controls and Simulation Engineer, Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions – Argonne National Laboratory

The Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL ) Evaluation challenges teams to
demonstrate the viability of the team’s HIL test bench for future
control system development. This event takes place in the team’s
exhibit booth where a team of judges evaluate the team’s HIL
system, model development, safety and fault mitigation test plans,
and vehicle communication and control setup.

Mechanical Systems Presentation 80 Points

Event Captain: Ed Argalas – Engineering Specialist – General Motors

The Mechanical Systems Presentation for Year One of EcoCAR is
focused on CA D design, structural integration, and performance
modeling and analysis to create a vehicle subsystem that will
meet the team and competition goals. The presentation is given
to a team of government and industry judges who evaluate
the effectiveness with which the team has executed the Year
One mechanical deliverables of EcoCAR . Particular emphasis
will be placed on evaluating the completeness of the proposed
mechanical architecture and expected conformance to program
requirements through simulation and analysis.

Outreach Presentation 40 Points (Pre-competition and competition points)

Event Captain: Lynda Palombo – Senior Manager,

Business Strategy – Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and
Transportation Energy – Natural Resources Canada
The purpose of the EcoCAR Outreach Program is to use various
outreach strategies to educate and raise awareness about the
benefits of advanced vehicle technology and how it reduces
the overall impact of transportation on the environment and our
economy. Teams will give their Outreach Presentation to a team of
government and industry judges outlining the details of their Year
One Outreach activities, which focuses on youth outreach, media
relations, and website development. Teams were also challenged
to develop a comprehensive communications plan for their threeyear
program and develop a technical success story featuring the
team’s use of EcoCAR sponsor tools.

Pre-Competition Safety Inspections 60 Points

Co-Captains: Michael Wahlstrom – Controls and Simulation Engineer and Frank Falcone – Vehicle Systems Engineer, Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions – Argonne National Laboratory

Technical Inspectors from Argonne National Laboratory and the
U.S. Department of Energy visited each of the 17 universities
and inspected their laboratory facilities, safety equipment
and procedures, and their HIL setup. Teams had to prepare
comprehensive safety documentation and procedures for their
laboratory in preparation for their vehicle development work in
the second year of the competition.

Project Initiation Approval Presentation 80 Points

Event Captain: Steve Ballentine – Global Cost Reduction Manager — Body, Exterior, Interior Engineering

The Project Initiation Approval Presentation is focused on vehicle
architecture selection and the associated selection of the major
vehicle subsystems. The intent of this event is to allow each team
the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of vehicle
architecture, the advantages and limitations of the selected
architecture, and how the particular architecture affects the overall
vehicle balance to requirements. Teams will give the presentation
to a group of government and industry judges and are expected to
demonstrate a high level understanding of the vehicle integration
areas (occupant packaging, subsystem packaging, mass,
thermal performance, dynamic performance, noise & vibration
performance, safety performance, and fuel economy). Particular
emphasis will be placed on evaluating the relationship between
the vehicle architecture chosen and the vehicle technical
specifications.

Technical Reports 370 Points

This event is complete.  OSU won the Best Technical Report Award ($2,000) and placed 5th overall in points.

Event Captain: Frank Falcone – Vehicle Systems Engineer, Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions – Argonne National Laboratory

Teams were tasked to prepare five written technical reports
throughout the year, including reports on Production Vehicle
Modeling, Vehicle Architecture Selection, Subsystem Design,
HIL System Development, ESS design, Vehicle Integration
Refinement, and finally, an SAE-formatted technical paper
summarizing their overall Year One concept, design elements,
engineering analysis, and development of the vehicle.

Trade Show Display and Presentation 60 Points (Pre-competition and competition points)

Event Captain: Toby Dunmore – Hybrid Development, General Motors

Recognizing the critical need for up-front organization and local
support of each team, the EcoCAR organizaers introduced the new
Business program for Year One of the competition. The teams
were challenged to develop a Business Plan that included focus
on Business Program deliverables, including developing a Business
Strategy report and presentation and follow-up progress reports.
At the competition, teams were challenged to put their business
skills to work, setting up a trade show display highlighting their
vehicle design and giving a technical presentation to a group of
government and industry judges similar to what you would see
on the exhibit floor of a technical conference such as SAE World
Congress. Using any visual aids they prefer – video, trade show
displays, hardware demonstrations, etc. – teams will set up a
multimedia display in their assigned exhibit booth space and give
judges a technical review of their overall vehicle design strategy
and selected architecture.