MORGANTOWN W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia University was named the second-place team in the first phase of a collegiate engineering competition centered around electric vehicles, according to a release.
The EcoCAR EV Challenge is a four-year competition where students from 15 different universities compete to engineer a next-generation battery electric vehicle. The first year focuses on the actual design of the vehicle; in the second year, General Motors will donate an all-electric 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ to each participating team so they can implement their designs with the goal of improving energy efficiency and performance.
“Year One of EcoCAR is all about generating big ideas and developing a strategy for the remainder of the competition,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alejandro Moreno of the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Ohio State (OSU) and Wilberforce University placed first overall in the first year of the competition. According to the release, OSU has participated in the competition for more than 20 years, but this is the first time they have decided to collaborate on the project with another university.
The competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and MathWorks.
