West Virginia University’s EcoCAR team is preparing for its first competition following the Winter Workshop Jan. 6 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Scott Wayne, EcoCAR team facility advisor, said the Winter Workshop allowed 20 team members see how they will be judged and how to present their EcoCAR.
The car is a General Motors-donated vehicle the students have re-engineered to be more fuel efficient as part of a three-year national competition sponsored by GM and the United States Department of Energy.
The instruments and events designed to judge the cars in the competition were presented, at the workshop.
"The workshop did a really good job. It provided a lot of information," Wayne said. "We now know what to expect. We have some deadlines and some safety work we have to do before the competition."
The team usually attends two workshops and one competition per year.
A week after WVU’s graduation this spring, the team will head to Yuma, Ariz., where they will be judged on vehicle testing whether the car will run and will then travel to San Diego to present their car.
Wayne said several students are new to the team, though the current WVU team has been attending the competition for the past two years.
He said WVU usually places ninth out of 17 teams, but this year WVU is the "team to look out for."
The team hopes to place in the top six, though Wayne noted it will be difficult.
Each car is judged on its design, a presentation given about mechanical electric and control design, consumer acceptability, how fast the vehicle accelerates, the amount of fuel it uses and how well it performs.
The team’s goal is to develop a more fuel-efficient vehicle, Wayne said.
He noted that the competition is especially beneficial for students who are majoring in engineering.
"This kind of competition really attracts top-level engineers," Wayne said. "The students in the program get good publicity, and it is really popular for the students who come to West Virginia University for engineering."
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