About the Competition

The EcoCAR team at the University of Washington, Seattle started participating in Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTCs) sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM) in 2011. These AVTCs bring in a selected few engineering schools in North America to work on advanced vehicle technologies. These competitions primarily focus on eco-friendly propulsion system technology as well as design and integration improvements that can enhance consumer acceptability.

 

In these competitions, General Motors donates production vehicles to participating teams and the teams re-imagine these vehicles with their designed architecture. The competition spans for 3-4 years where the teams go through the Design, Integration, Testing and Validation processes to build a 99% production-ready vehicle. The vehicles are evaluated on their Emissions, Performance, Consumer Appeal, Endurance and Handling every year during the competition cycle.

 

Overall, this competition series has helped undergraduate and graduate students from various engineering and non-engineering disciplines to gain on-hands experience in Management, Technical Projects, and Communication.

 

To learn more about the AVTCs the team has and is participating in, follow the links below.