Battery Workforce Challenge Names Year Two Championship Teams

College students in Stellantis-sponsored elite battery competition traveled to Indianapolis from across North America to continue rigorous EV battery program

INDIANAPOLIS, May 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Battery Workforce Challenge (BattChallenge), the nation's premiere collegiate competition in battery manufacturing and workforce development, named the McMaster University and Mohawk College team first place champion for year two of the three-year competition. Second place was awarded to The Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College team, while the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Ivy Tech Community College team took third place. Teams were evaluated on their ability to build and test a team-designed module for an electric vehicle battery pack to be integrated into a competition vehicle, a 2024 Ram ProMaster commercial electric van donated from Stellantis.

The BattChallenge is a public-private partnership and North American collegiate engineering competition, managed by Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and sponsored by Stellantis.

During year two, students were challenged to fully design and develop battery architecture, including a battery module, battery disconnect unit (BDU), and software architecture. Teams received industry expert support in the form of design reviews to help elevate students' understanding of the battery design process. At competition, teams presented their module, BDU, and Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to a panel of industry subject matter experts in each field. Teams made up of a North American University and a vocational school partner were each judged on module design progress, project management, and market development and communications.

"From the fall 2024 workshop at the Stellantis headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, to the winter workshop in Greenville, South Carolina, in February and now on the final leg of our North American educational road trip in Indianapolis, this year's students have shown the determination and potential to be among the top engineers and technicians in the automotive space," said Micky Bly, senior vice president and head of Global Propulsion Systems at Stellantis.

"Stellantis is proud to continue our support of this important initiative and encourage students to receive valuable real-world experience in the auto industry."

The BattChallenge began in 2023 and features 12 competitively selected North American university engineering teams, made up of a university and a local community college. Students receive firsthand experiential learning and work closely with industry experts to learn more about the automotive industry.

The 2024 Ram ProMaster EV was introduced as the BattChallenge vehicle in 2024 and is designed specifically for electrification, featuring a unibody design that efficiently incorporates the production battery pack. The work van is suited to perform commercial activities, presenting an exciting opportunity for students to design batteries for bigger vehicles. 

The year two finale took place at Ivy Tech Community College and the Battery Innovation Center in Indianapolis from May 4 to 9. Participants received dozens of engineering and sponsor-related category awards, as well as industry-provided prize money totaling $100,000. For the remainder of the competition, teams will assemble the components into a battery pack and integrate the battery pack into the Ram ProMaster electric van.

Additional BattChallenge sponsors include: Samsung SDI America; American Battery Technology Company; Battery Innovation Center, Inc.; Eaton; AVL, Dana Inc.; Analog Devices, Inc.; Gamma Technologies; Hesse Mechatronics; MathWorks; Vibration Research; Vector North America; Volta Foundation.

Battery Workforce Challenge
The collegiate competition is part of DOE's broader Battery Workforce Challenge Program, which also includes regional training with vocational and community colleges; STEM youth education; and an online tool for career and technical education. The program is dedicated to cultivating a strong cohort of skilled engineers, technicians and workers to support the domestic automotive industry.

Follow the Battery Workforce Challenge on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/battery-workforce-challenge/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/battchallenge/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BattChallenge

Follow the U.S. DOE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/eeregov/

Follow Stellantis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Stellantis

Media Contacts:
Kimberly DeClark, Argonne National Laboratory, [email protected], 202-441-0096
Dan Reid, Stellantis, [email protected], 248-202-7697

SOURCE Battery Workforce Challenge