EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Year 1 Competition

The PIA Event for year one of the EcoCAR mobility challenge is focused on vehicle architecture selection and the selection of the major vehicle subsystems to meet the team’s Vehicle Technical Specification (VTS) goals. The intent of this event is to allow each team the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of the vehicle architecture selection process, the advantages and limitations of the selected architecture and how the particular architecture affects the overall vehicle balance to the VTS requirements. The focus of this presentation will be at the vehicle level with references and connections made to the major subsystems. A high-level understanding of the vehicle integration areas (occupant packaging, subsystem packaging, mass, thermal performance, dynamic performance, noise & vibration performance, system safety, and fuel economy) is expected to be demonstrated. A description of how the vehicle performance analysis and simulation were done is required such that VTS targets will be achieved within a bandwidth of confidence. Vehicle integration and performance balance should be the emphasis of the presentation. Particular emphasis will be placed on evaluating the relationship between the vehicle architecture chosen, the VTS, and competition cost. The presentation should also include information on the propulsion system hardware architectures chosen, including how these subsystem selections achieve the desired vehicle performance balance and achievement of the VTS.