21st Century Automotive Challenge
April 17-19, 2009 - RESULTS
Electric Cars
Independent Light Duty Local (2 or fewer seats)
Out of 1000 possible points.
Abbreviations: mpgge – miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (energy)
PD – petroleum displaced
DNF – did not finish
Best Overall – 1st place in all divisions combined
1st place 866.2 pts, Team: Green Rabbit, Alan Arrison
EEVC member
VW Rabbit Pick Up Conversion
Fuel Efficiency (1st) 124.8 mpgge
Seating (1st) 249.7 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (2nd) 992.5 cargo-miles/gge
PD 161.6 gge/year
Range (1st) 66.8 miles
Greenhouse Emissions (3rd) 101.7 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (1st) 59.1 seconds
2nd place 735.5 pts, Team: Burlington County Electechs, Oliver Perry and Michael Manning,
EEVC member
86 Ford Escort Conversion “The Olympian”
Fuel Efficiency (4th) 102.3 mpgge
Seating (4th) 204.6 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (1st) 1,655.7 cargo-miles/gge
PD 161.6 gge/year
Range (4th) 40.1 miles
Greenhouse Emissions (4th) 61.5 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (3rd) 65.8 seconds
3rd place 698.2 pts, Team: Methacton High School
Lorax three wheeled sports car
Advisor: Steve Savitz
Fuel Efficiency (2nd) 119.3 mpgge
Seating (2nd) 238.5 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (4th) 428.2 cargo-miles/gge
PD 161.6 gge/year
Range (2nd) 48.6 miles
Greenhouse Emissions (1st) 111.9 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (4th) 77.6 seconds
4th place 603.7 pts, Team: Ken Barbour
EEVC member
Geo Metro Convertible Conversion
Fuel Efficiency (3rd) 104.8 mpgge
Seating (3rd) 209.7 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (3rd) 760.1 cargo-miles/gge
PD 161.6 gge/year
Range (3rd) 42.0 miles
Greenhouse Emissions (2nd) 108.5 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (2nd) 62.8 seconds
Independent Light Duty Local (6 or more seats)
1st place 985.0 pts, Team: North Haven Community School
The team that traveled the farthest to attend
VW bus Conversion (transmission failure)
Advisor: John Dietter
Fuel Efficiency 70.5 mpgge
Seating (Best Overall) 493.5 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (Best Overall) 4,948.6 cargo-miles/gge
PD 500.0 gge/year
Range DNF
Greenhouse Emissions 204.2 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross 78.8 seconds
Plug Hybrid
Independent Light Duty Local (3-5 seats)
1st Place 900.0 pts, Team: Partnerships 1, Inc., Dr. Paul Kydd
EEVC member
Ford 150 pickup hybridized
Fuel Efficiency 28.1 mpgge
Seating 87.6 seat-miles/gge
Cargo 1,173.4 cargo-miles/gge
PD 77.5 gge/year
Range DNF
Greenhouse Emissions 391.6 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross DNF
Bio Diesel
Independent Light Duty Highway (3-5 seats)
1st place 900.0 pts, Team: Kreibick, Ed and Jim Kreibick
EEVC members
1976 Mercedes Benz bio-diesel
Fuel Efficiency (1st)57.4 mpgge
Seating (1st)286.8 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (1st) 806.0 cargo-miles/gge
PD (1st) 210.3 gge/year
Greenhouse Emissions (2nd) 56.2 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (1st) 65.2 seconds
2nd place 510.0 pts, Team: Freedom Car, Dr. Jerry Clever
Mercedes Benz Modified bio-diesel (vegetable oil)
Fuel Efficiency (2nd)36.9 mpgge
Seating (2nd) 184.5 seat-miles/gge
Cargo (2nd) 295.9 cargo-miles/gge
PD (2nd) 102.9 gge/year
Greenhouse Emissions (1st) 5.5 grams of CO2 per mile
Autocross (2nd) 66.3 seconds
Demonstration (Unlicensed) Vehicles
Thanks go out to Seth Krem and Mike Rompilla from Kuchera Engineering of Windber, PA, and Tim Cleary of Penn State, who brought their prototype vehicles for display and test drives on the track.
| 1st Place | Kyoto Chimera, 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI biodiesel driven by Jonathan Bartlett, achieved 68 mpg |
|---|---|
| 2nd Place | Team Kreibick’s 1976 Mercedes Benz biodiesel, piloted by father and son Edward and James, achieved 64 mpg |
| 3rd Place | Freedom Car, Jerry Clever’s 1995 Mercedes Benz 300, achieved 50 mpg running on nearly 100% vegetable oil |
Brief Notes on Scoring and Strategies
for the Lifestyle Efficiency Competition
by: Joel Anstrom
The Electric and PHEV vehicles demonstrated the highest fuel efficiency values per gallon of gasoline equivalent (gge) of energy received because the onboard energy conversion for batteries and electric motors is more efficient than for internal combustion engines. Fuel efficiency tends to decrease as vehicle passenger seating and cargo capacity increase since vehicle weight and frontal area increase with them. Electric vehicles in the independent light-duty local division with seating of <=2 passengers demonstrated the highest fuel efficiencies between 100-125 mpgge with the two lowest mpgge cars affected by weak battery problems during the competition. Carbon emission was lowest for the Freedom Energy Diesel running on mostly vegetable oil with a little biodiesel to start. EVs and PHEVs were assessed considerable carbon emissions for charging at night when available grid electricity is generated with significant amounts of fossil fuel, mainly coal. A winning strategy might be to charge with as much solar electricity as possible during the day and avoid charging at night or use of petroleum based fuels. This can be accomplished by starting the day at a low state of charge – with the use of a kWhr meter – followed by traveling during the low solar production hours of the early morning and late afternoon and aggressive solar charging during the peak solar production hours around noon. It may then be possible to discharge excess solar energy above initial state of charge back to the grid in the late afternoon to displace additional carbon emissions from fossil fuel generated electricity.
***Disks containing photos and the official scoring spreadsheet are being prepared for mailing to each 2009 competing team captain. The spreadsheet will show all scoring details and calculations and may be helpful in strategizing for the 2010 21st Century Automotive Challenge.***
Save the Date – May 21-23, 2010
For the next 21st Century Automotive Competition
at Penn State