Student Competition Teams
3
EcoCAR
Advisor: Doug Nelson
Virginia Tech has been taking part in the EcoCAR Challenge and its predecessors for more than 20 years and
consistently achieving success with undergraduate students designing and building a variety of automobiles.
The latest creation, the Camaro hybrid, placed 2nd
overall in 2016, the second year of a four-year competition dubbed EcoCAR3. The team also placed second in
2015.
Sixteen universities compete in the competition using a
stock 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to integrate hybrid-electric
designs in an effort to reduce environmental impact. The
EcoCAR3 competition also asks teams to retain the muscle and performance of the iconic Camaro brand. Of the
competition teams, only Virginia Tech used a V-8 (taken
from a Chevrolet Silverado) in their design.
Students created a detailed mechanical design for a
post-transmission motor which was built by and with the
help of InMotion, a team sponsor. About half the team's
graduating seniors took positions with General Motors.
Myles Regan, Regan Digital Images