The Ohio State team’s car won the third round of the national EcoCAR3 competition this Thursday. Credit: Ohio State EcoCAR Team
A team of Ohio State students won the third round of the national EcoCAR3 competition Thursday night. The vehicle competition consists of 16 teams from universities across the country that have four years to create an energy-efficient, high-performance Chevrolet Camaro.
The EcoCAR3 competition began in 2015, and OSU’s team took first place that year and again in 2016, said Briana Antinoro, co-communications manager of the team and a third-year in strategic communications. Each team will present its final-product vehicle in 2018.
The first half of the 2017 competition was held in Milford, Michigan, and the second half in the District of Columbia, Antinoro said. In the third round, each team presented their vehicles and each car was judged in a number of tests based on environmental impact and performance.
“They’re the best prepared OSU team that I’ve brought to an EcoCAR competition.” said Shawn Midlam-Mohler, the team’s faculty advisor and a professor of practice, mechanical and aerospace engineering, in a statement. “They set the stage for a great competition by putting over 2000 miles on the car prior to coming, and gave so much of their time to the competition.”
The team was also recognized for its performance across various smaller events in the competition, such as Best Project Status Presentation and First-Place Project Management.
The team took home 15 awards in total and placed first in 11 of the 15 categories. It will be taking home over $20,000.
The award given to the Ohio State EcoCAR3 team for best overall performance. Credit: Ohio State EcoCAR Team
This year’s team consisted of eight first-years, 12 second-years, 14 third-years, seven fourth-years, seven master’s students, and one doctoral student. Currently, there are 36 males and 13 females, Antinoro said.
“Everyone is so great to work with and coming off a win, everyone is going to be really motivated to keep it going and will be working hard all year long,” said Brandon Bishop, a first-year master’s student in mechanical engineering and the 2018 team’s project manager, in a statement.
In addition to OSU, California State University at Los Angeles, Colorado State University, Georgia Tech, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Penn State, University of Tennessee, University of Washington, Virginia Tech and Wayne State University send teams to the competition.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Georgia Tech took second and third place in the competition, respectively.
