OSU team looks to win final round of eco-friendly vehicle competition

[Originally published 5/12/17 in The Lantern; Edited 2/12/18]

A team of Ohio State’s environmentally conscious students look to take home a third consecutive
win in the United States Department of Energy’s EcoCAR3 competition beginning Saturday
going through May 25.

The competition challenges 16 teams from universities across the country, said Brianna
Antinoro, a third-year in strategic communications, and co-communications manager of the OSU
EcoCAR team. Teams have four years to create an energy-efficient, high-performance vehicle,
according to the EcoCAR3 website.

Antinoro said the first half of the competition is held in Milford, Michigan, and the second half is
held in the District of Columbia. During this time, each team will present their vehicles, and each
car is judged in a number of tests based on environmental impact and performance.

“(2018) is the final year of the competition. It is really all about showing off the car and
increasing our outreach to the community, college students, and youth… There will be a high
level of focus on the car itself and what it can do, how we enhance it,” Antinoro said.

The EcoCAR3 competition began in 2015, and OSU’s team took first place that year and in
2016. Each team will present its final-product vehicle in 2018. The winning team this year will
be awarded money that can be used to fund the final round of the competition.

OSU’s team hopes to come back to Columbus with another win.

“Our team has been meticulously refining and testing the vehicle throughout the current build
year. We plan to arrive at the competition confident that we have developed a safe, reliable and
innovative vehicle,” said Andrew Huster, a graduate student in electrical and computer science
engineering who is also the team’s leader.

In addition to OSU, California State University at Los Angeles, Colorado State University,
Georgia Tech, McMaster University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Tennessee,
University of Washington, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Wayne State
University send teams to the competition.

Each year the team sets goals they hope to meet during the next build year. “The team’s goals for
this year were to complete the powertrain integration of the car and thoroughly test and refine the
vehicle’s operation,” Huster said.

OSU’s team works in the Center for Automotive Research, which is located on West Campus.
The team is made up of around 40 to 50 students of all ages and majors. According to the Ohio
State EcoCAR website, the most common major represented in mechanical engineering, but
there are also students majoring in computer science, finance, industrial design, logistics
management, welding engineering and data analytics.
In addition to the variety of majors represented, the age range varies as well. This year, there are
eight first-years, 12 second-years, 14 third-years, seven fourth-years, seven Master’s students,
and one PhD student. Currently, there are 36 men and 13 women, said Antinoro.

Antinoro said that more students should care about  and get involved in  the EcoCAR project.

“Our team is incredibly successful and will hopefully be bringing home another win with the
competition this May,” she said. “The project is innovative and allows students to work with new
and improved technologies in order to create an interesting and productive solution,” Antinoro
said. The EcoCAR team accepts new members in August. Students who are interested do not
need to have prior experience and can attend an informational session to select which department
they would like to work with.

Antinoro said that the EcoCAR competition is a great way for undergrads to get hands-on
experience because students are exposed to different aspects of the vehicle-building process. She
said working on the project also increases awareness of the environmental impact cars have and
gives students the chance to think about how they can contribute to creating eco-friendly
vehicles.