AVL Sponsors EcoCAR 2 Challenge, Helping Students Optimize Electric Vehicle

PLYMOUTH, Mich., April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AVL announced today its sponsorship of EcoCAR 2, a three-year collegiate engineering competition. Today, select university participants were announced by David Sandolow, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy, in the AVL Technology Leadership Center during SAE World Congress.

AVL will support EcoCAR 2 with technology resources and engineer guidance, offering hands-on experience to automotive engineers of the future, advancing the electrification of vehicles and supporting President Obama's recent energy initiative to develop cleaner sources of electricity and greater energy solutions, reducing dependence on oil. Established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM) to challenge students across North America to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without sacrificing the driveability, safety and consumer acceptability, the program will equip teams with a Chevrolet Malibu to serve as the platform for their unique vehicle design.

EcoCAR's mission to educate young engineers on electric drive powertrain architectures aligns with AVL's commitment to contributing to an energy efficient environment and supporting global academia initiatives, an effort led by AVL Chairman and CEO, Helmut List and his wife, Kathryn.

"As a leading powertrain engineering company committed to a safer, more efficient and cleaner environment, AVL is honored to support EcoCAR 2 and the participating teams, the U.S. DOE and GM, and our nation's administration for their willingness and dedication to create clean-energy solutions," said Don Manvel, chairman and CEO, AVL Americas.

As a platinum-level sponsor, AVL engineers will interact with students and provide its advanced technology to accomplish the universities' technical goals toward improving vehicle efficiency. AVL-DRIVE™ software, which provides objective evaluation of productivity and driveability of vehicles in real time, will be donated to each of the 16 participating teams. Throughout the competition, teams will use AVL-DRIVE to minimize driver stress and maximize optimal driveability, efficiency, as well as safety and comfort of the vehicle.

AVL's participation in the challenge adheres to President Obama's commitment to pursue a Clean Energy Standard (CES), an ambitious goal to generate 80 percent of the U.S.'s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, including renewable energy sources like wind, solar, biomass, and hydropower; nuclear power; efficient natural gas; and clean coal.

AVL is the world's largest privately owned and independent company for the development of gasoline, diesel and alternative fuel powertrain systems, as well as fuel cell and hybrid technologies. The company offers combined solutions of powertrain engineering, simulation software and testing and instrumentation systems. AVL's North American Headquarters is located in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Michigan. For more information, AVL can be found at www.avl.com.

About EcoCAR 2

EcoCAR 2 is a three-year competition that builds on the 23-year history of DOE advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate cutting-edge automotive technologies. General Motors provides production vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation, technical and logistical support. Through this important partnership, EcoCAR 2 aims to inspire and educate the next generation of automotive engineers and accelerate the development and demonstration of technologies that are of interest to the DOE and the automotive industry.  

SOURCE AVL North America