Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems

Mission

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors Corporation (GM) are the headline sponsors of ChallengeX:
Crossover to Sustainable Mobility. This ground-breaking competition gives engineering schools an opportunity to participate in hands-on research and development with leading-edge automotive propulsion, fuels, materials, and emissions-control technologies. Furthermore, the competition will help develop highly skilled student engineers who have a strong understanding of advanced vehicle technologies that will prepare them to lead the automotive industry into the 21st century and enable North America to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

• Educate participants in methods and processes involved in automotive vehicle development
• Perform vehicle conversions and conduct competition operations safely.
• Provide a high-quality engineering education experience for all participants.
• Build popular awareness of and support for improving the energy efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of automotive transportation.
• Project a positive image of the participants, organizers, and sponsors and their respective institutions.
• Build a foundation of understanding concerning the energy security for the nation.

Vision

The vision of Challenge X is to provide an opportunity for students to participate in hands-on automotive research and development at the leading edge of technology using contemporary industrial practices. Our vision and technical goals for the competition are outlined below.

• Demonstrate the potential of sustainable mobility technologies and technical progress toward reducing the energy consumption and environmental impact of vehicles.
• Provide a hands-on, real-world engineering experience that incorporates the use of math-based tools to improve engineering education, reduce development time, foster practical learning, and better prepare students to work in the domestic automotive and electronics industries.
• Develop highly skilled students with a strong understanding of advanced vehicle and simulation technologies that will prepare them to lead the automotive industry into the 21st century and enable North America to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
• Implement the Challenge X Vehicle Development Process, (Challenge X VDP) a process that mimics GM's Global Vehicle Development Process (GVDP) into the dedicated educational curriculum for Challenge X at the participating universities/colleges.
• Meet demanding schedules for deliverables such as working vehicles, reports, simulation results, and studentcollected test data, coordinated with milestone timing of the Challenge X VDP.
• Have a demonstrated understanding of competition team structure and completed program deliverables that will be due throughout the year.
• Foster networking between teams to build relationships that will follow participants through their careers.
• Showcase the efforts of the teams and sponsors to the team’s local education systems.

Goals

Construct vehicles that, when compared to the stock vehicle,

• Significantly reduce well-to-wheel energy consumption;
• Incorporate technologies that increase energy efficiency and reduce fossil energy consumption and emissions based on a total fuel cycle (well-to-wheel analysis)
• Significantly reduce criteria tailpipe emissions and GHGs;
• Increase pump-to-wheels fuel economy; and
• Maintain or exceed consumer acceptability in the areas of performance, utility, and safety. While using and following a structured plan mimicking GM's GVDP, participating teams will design and develop a vehicle that minimizes energy consumption, criteria emissions, and GHGs on a well-to- wheels basis while maintaining or exceeding stock vehicle utility and performance.