Akron, Ohio, June 19, 2007 — The University of Akron’s Challenge X team finished 12th recently in national competition. “We learned practical lessons in every aspect of engineering, including complex system integration, cost and time management and how to work on interdisciplinary teams, document our work and troubleshoot complex problems,” says team leader Nathan Picot of Massillon.

“And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?” comments team adviser Iqbal Husain, professor of electrical and computer engineering. “The students exhibited their substantial knowledge, teamwork and perseverance while being outstanding goodwill ambassadors for the university.”

Seventeen university teams from the United States and Canada are competing in "Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility," sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Now in its third year, it challenges engineering students to redesign a Chevy Equinox to increase fuel economy and reduce environmental impact while retaining consumer appeal.

Teams gather at the end of the school year for evaluation. This year’s event was at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford Mich.

A second-year master's candidate in electrical engineering, Picot says UA's car, "Joey," is one of the most technologically advanced vehicles in the competition. A DOE official agreed in a newspaper interview at last year’s event: "Their approach of using a combination of advanced batteries and ultracapacitors is absolutely at the cutting edge of where the technology is at a professional level," said Robert Larsen of the Center for Transportation Research at the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. "It is a very daunting challenge to meld these two energy-storage devices together. It has been impressive what they have been able to do so far."

However, what seemed like a good idea didn’t pan out. “This year, the team used only ultracapacitors — through modeling and simulation we found that the battery didn't give us any added benefit,” says Husain.

"From the cutting-edge, custom ultracapacitor-based energy storage system, which will last longer and is more efficient than batteries, to the robust distributed control system that operates the vehicle without any assistance from the driver, our team built almost every major component," explains Picot.

The team came home with $2,500 in prize money, several individual honors, and first place for best Web site design, second in overall outreach and third place for the Freescale Semiconductor: Silicon on the Move Award.

Originally slated for three years, each building on the previous year's work, Challenge X sponsors have extended the competition to a fourth year to have students focus on reliability and durability and conduct real-world tests of their vehicles.

In December, vehicles will be displayed and demonstrated in Sacramento and Los Angeles, Calif., and next year in Orlando, Fla., and New York. Vehicles will then be driven to Washington, D.C., with evaluations enroute for fuel efficiency and emissions. The vehicles will be on display at the National Mall.

The University of Akron is the public research university for Northern Ohio. It is the only public university in Ohio with a science and engineering program ranked in the top five nationally by U.S. News & World Report. Serving 24,000 students, the university offers approximately 300 associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne, Medina and Holmes counties. For more information, visit www.uakron.edu.