Students Develop "Green" SUV

Craig Pavlich loves to remind Eric Schacht about the time he "broke the car."

"Well, I was driving rather ... aggressively, and I snapped the axle shaft," said Schacht, a junior in electrical engineering. "We had to get the car towed."

"Everyone's waiting for him, and he never shows up," said Pavlich, a senior in mechanical engineering.

"The GM guys welded it back together," Schacht said.

This story is just a part of the drama involved in the Challenge X program, of which Ohio State has been a part of for years. Challenge X is a four-year competition to develop a more energy -efficient and environmentally friendly SUV, without hampering the vehicle's performance.

The OSU Challenge X team is one of 17 competitors. It consists of about 15 undergraduate and graduate students including team captains Schacht and Pavlich.

The team members are mostly mechanical and electrical engineers, said Shawn Midlam-Mohler, a staff researcher and advisor for the Challenge X team.

They also have business and marketing majors, and people who just like cars, he said.

"We're running a mini-car company," Pavlich said of the team.

These students have taken a Chevrolet Equinox donated by General Motors, ripped out the engine and transmission and created a hybrid SUV.

They replaced the engine with a smaller diesel engine for better fuel economy and added a large electric motor so that it retains the power of the original V-6 engine, Mohler said.

"It's hard to develop something as sophisticated as say, a Prius, given our resources," he said, but added that the students have improved on some good ideas.

The Equinox has the ability to determine for itself when it should run electrically or on gas thanks to a complex computer system, as well as the ability to recharge its own battery with what is called regenerative breaking, Mohler said.

The vehicle can also turn off the engine when it stops to conserve fuel, and run electrically to accelerate before the engine turns back on, he said.

It also now has an independent-electric, rear-motor system that lets the SUV still have four-wheel drive with more efficiency, Mohler said.

The students have developed this almost entirely on their own.

"They allow a lot of independence," Pavlich said. "You can come in when you're free or work at home."

Josephine Jing, a sophomore in engineering and a Challenge X team member joined because of the schedule flexibility.

Now in the fourth year of competition, they need people with experience who can work on the electronics, Schacht said.

More attention to detail is required for "fixing little problems and dressing things up," he said.

The final part of the competition is quickly approaching.

Pavlich said the competition is from May 13-21, beginning with a drive to New York and ending in Washington, D.C.

Judges score each team based on their greenhouse gas emissions, drive quality, acceleration and handling and consumer comfort, he said.

They are also graded on progress reports and calculations, Pavlich said.

There is one full day at a race track where they drive around cones, get timed for speed and have some emissions testing done, Schacht said.

Members of Congress get to drive the cars that are still running at the end of the competition, he added.

The Challenge X competition not only gives OSU the opportunity to do some research and get funding, but it also provides students with real world experience.

"I'm learning at twice the rate as people just doing school," Pavlich said. "You're taking what you learn in class (and applying it to the team's work)."

The OSU Challenge team looks to win prize money for each event they win in the competition, Mohler said. The students also are rewarded with a valuable learning experience, and a good time.

"It's pretty fun for us," Pavlich said. "When we're not exhausted."

This article was written by Everdeen Mason and ran in the Jan. 31, 2008 edition of The Lantern, The Ohio State University Newspaper. Everdeen Mason can be reached at mason.388@osu.edu.