MSU student-led ECOCAR team develops vehicles of the future
A Mississippi State student-led organization is developing future leaders who can design, build, and market fuel-efficient and eco-friendly vehicles.
If you have passed by the old Cadence Bank building in downtown Starkville, which is now being turned into The Hub, you might have recently seen a Chevrolet Camaro set up in the building’s plaza.
That is the MSU ECOCAR team’s competition car from four years ago used to participate in ECOCAR, a series of multi-year competitions working to develop the next generation of leaders in the automotive industry.
The team’s current competition car, a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer, is currently in its fourth year of the nation’s premier automotive engineering competition.
When the
student-led team works on this competition car, the goal is to re-engineer the Blazer to incorporate advanced propulsion systems, automation, and vehicle connectivity all while maintaining improved energy efficiency, safety and consumer acceptability.
“Their number one goal is for the vehicle to perform well in competition, so they are evaluated constantly from the people who lead the program at General Motors and Argonne National Labs. Throughout the semester, they have interim reports that must be completed, so there are points throughout the semester and the year, and the preponderance of the points are in the vehicle performance areas,” said MSU Center for Advance Vehicular Systems (CAVS) Executive Director Clay Walden. “What’s really valuable is what they learn in engineering as a practice. So, they learn how to make the vehicle work, how to deal with uncertainties and challenges they didn’t expect, how to deal with suppliers that are not delivering as well as expected, how to deal with technical challenges under a tight timeframe, and how to work as a team. There’s nothing more rewarding for me as a faculty member at MSU to see our students do so well and work together so efficiently. We’re really proud of them.”
For students on the team such as Amine Taoudi, the major thing he looks at is how can the team develop what is called “the code” that will optimize the vehicle’s operation.
“One of the biggest things for us is fuel economy, so we try to make sure that our vehicle can be as efficient in terms of how much fuel it consumes. We’re judged based on specific cycles or specific drive traces that the vehicle has to go through, and then we check how much fuel it consumes,” said Taoudi, who serves as the team’s manager for propulsion, controls, and modeling. “Part of my job is to make sure that the engine is performing at its highest efficiency. Since it is a hybrid vehicle, we’re also using all the electric power train as well to ensure that we can boost that performance, and ensure that we’re not consuming as much fuel; essentially making sure that we have a sustainable ecological vehicle, and that’s what ECOCAR is all about.”