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Hokies win EcoCAR competition with an extended-range EV

Students from Virginia Tech University this week garnered first place in the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge with the team's extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) using E85 (ethanol).

Suzanne Ashe
Suzanne Ashe has been covering technology, gadgets, video games, and cars for several years. In addition to writing features and reviews for magazines and Web sites, she has contributed to daily newspapers.
Suzanne Ashe

Earlier this year, the Virginia Tech Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) drove the award-winning EcoCAR more than 4 hours--from Blacksburg to Washington D.C.'s National Mall--to join in the EPA's Earth Day events. HEVT

A Virginia Tech University engineering team on Thursday won first place in the EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge with an 82-mile-per-gallon, extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) using E85 (ethanol).

The results of the three-year EcoCAR competition were announced on L'Enfant Plaza, in Washington, D.C. United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu congratulated the team at an award ceremony. A total of 16 teams participated in the competition that was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM).

A student team from Ohio State University took second place with an E85 EREV. Third place went to a team from University of Waterloo with a hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The team was the first in the history of Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions to run a fuel cell vehicle in all the dynamic events during finals.

The winning vehicle, based on a GM production model, can run about 50 miles on its battery and another 155 on gasoline. The vehicle was re-engineered to minimize the vehicle's fuel consumption and emissions while maintaining its utility, safety and performance, the team said in a press release.

"Designing an extended-range electric vehicle using E85 was challenging, but clearly worth it in the end," said Patrick Walsh, co-team leader for Virginia Tech. "The entire team has put so much time and effort into designing and refining our vehicle, and we've gained valuable knowledge and hands-on experience that will prepare us for our engineering careers."