21st Century Automotive Challenge an Annual Event at Penn State

The Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute’s Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Laboratory continues a tradition of automotive innovation and engineering. The 21st Century Automotive Challenge competition was held last month, right here in State College.

This type of competition has a long history in the United States, with the American Tour de Sol hosting a number of solar and electric car competitions starting in the early 1980s up until 2006. The Eastern Electric Vehicle Club, located in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., hosted the event in 2007 and 2008.

“The American Tour de Sol competition ended in 2006,” said Joel Anstrom, director of the laboratory and a senior research associate at the Larson Institute. “Penn State had competed from 1996 to 1999 so we were familiar with a lot of the competitors. The EEVC was challenged to host it. By 2008, I threw out the idea of it at Penn State.”

For the last five years, the Automotive Challenge has been held at a test track near the University Park Airport. Motorists come from as far as Massachusetts to compete in different categories, such as fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have the test track facilities and a lot of the technical expertise needed to run and score a competition of this magnitude,” Anstrom said. “In 2009, we hosted the event for the first time. I changed the rules around – it’s not just electric vehicles now, but all vehicles, mainly electric plus hybrid and biodiesel vehicles.”

During the competition, Anstrom is able to compile data on the various automobiles and use it to help the industry.

“The idea is to generate data on how all these alternative fuels and different technologies compare,” Anstrom said. “We use it as an opportunity to gather comparison data.”

For Penn State, the competition serves as more of an outreach initiative. The Larson Institute teams up with the Penn State Sustainability Institute every May to bring the competition to State College.

“This competition format [demonstrates] the reality of car, grid, and home interconnectivity,” said David Riley, associate professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering, “especially pertinent with the emergence of production pluggable electric and hybrid cars in the American consumer marketplace.”

This year, over a dozen vehicles competed. Larson says he’ll announce the winners of this year’s event on June 12 at the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club meeting.

The vehicles that competed this year included:

· Tesla Model S

· Chevy S10 EV

· Toyota Prius

· Nissan Leaf

· BioDiesel Volkswagen Jetta

· EV Trike

· Biodiesel Volkswagen Jetta

· HEV Ford F150 Pickup

· (2) Vectrix EV Motorcycle

· Chevrolet Volt

· Chevrolet Fiero EV

· Subaru WRX CNG Conversion

· Honda Civic GX CNG Vehicle

· Cooper Mini-E EV

· Tesla Roadster GV