'Year One' Leader in EcoCAR2 Contest Named

A student from the Mississippi State University team works on their car, which was honored in the EcoCAR 2012 Competition.
Credit: Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University was named "Year One" overall winner on May 24 at the EcoCAR 2012 Competition in Los Angeles. EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future is a three-year contest sponsored by the Energy Department, General Motors (GM), and 25 other government and industry leaders. The challenge gives students from 15 collegiate teams the opportunity to gain real-world, eco-friendly automotive engineering experience while striving to improve the energy efficiency on a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.

For Year One, with $100,000 in prize money up for grabs, the contest emphasized engineering design though modeling and simulation to select and virtually test the teams' plug-in hybrid electric vehicle architecture. Teams also started developing their hybrid control strategy using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation tools and designing major vehicle subsystems, including the hybrid powertrain, energy storage, and high-voltage electrical systems. Throughout the events in Los Angeles, EcoCAR 2 teams put their designs to the test, giving presentations to industry and government professionals based on their mechanical, electrical, control and HIL strategies; project initiation approval; outreach and business plans; and trade show display.

Mississippi State, which has placed first three times in its nine years of competitions, was followed by Ohio State and the University of Waterloo. The 15 teams also received the keys to the GM-donated 2013 Chevrolet Malibus they will spend the next two years rebuilding, testing, and refining. See the DOE press release and the EcoCAR2 website.

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Selections Named for U.S.-India Joint Energy Center

The Energy Department on April 13 announced the selection of three consortia that will make up the $125 million U.S.-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center. The consortia are led in the United States by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as the University of Florida. They will bring together experts from national laboratories, universities, and industry in both the United States and India. Consortia researchers will leverage their expertise and resources in solar technology, advanced biofuels, and building efficiency to unlock the potential of clean energy technologies that can reduce energy use, cut dependence on foreign oil, and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources.

The three lead U.S. institutions have partnered with three lead Indian institutions: the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology-Hyderabad, and CEPT University-Ahmedabad. The Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center is part of the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy.

As part of a planned five-year initiative, DOE will make $5 million available in fiscal year 2012. The Energy Department plans to request as much as an additional $20 million of Congress over the next four years, subject to available appropriations, to support research conducted by U.S. institutions and individuals. The Indian Government also committed to funding $25 million over five years that will be used to support work by Indian institutions and individuals. In addition, U.S. and Indian consortia members have pledged more than $75 million in matching funds, for a combined funding total of more than $125 million for joint research and development in solar energy, advanced biofuels, and building energy efficiency. See the DOE press release.

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'America's Next Top Energy Innovators' Named

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

DOE announced on February 10 the three winning startup companies out of the 14 participating in the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator" challenge. The decision was based on the nearly half a million votes cast online from January 26 through February 6, as well as expert review. The startups, using technology licensed from DOE's national laboratories, are from Iowa, Maryland, and Oregon. The winning teams will be featured at the 2012 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, which will bring clean energy leaders together at the end of the month.

IPAT, based in Nevada, Iowa, is using gas atomization technology developed at Ames Laboratory to make titanium powder with processes that are ten times more efficient than those made using the traditional powder-making method, significantly lowering the cost of the powder to manufacturers for a range of parts. Umpqua Energy, in Medford, Oregon, is using an Argonne National Laboratory technology to develop a system that allows a gasoline engine to operate in an "extreme lean burn" mode to increase gasoline mileage. Vorbeck Materials, in Jessup, Maryland, is using a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-developed method for building tiny chemical structures to greatly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. See the DOE press release and the challenge website.

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