|
GM Officials
Showcase Hybrid Bus Technology, Review Progress of Rose-Hulman's
Challenge X Team
Officials from General Motors Corporation's Allison Transmission
hybrid powertrain engineering team recently visited Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology to demonstrate a hybrid-powered bus, and got a
first-hand look at a hybrid sport utility vehicle being developed by
students for the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable
Mobility engineering competition.
|
VIEW CHALLENGE
X VIDEO UPDATE |
|
RealPlayer Videos |
|
High resolution |
|
Low resolution |
|
|
Windows Media
Videos |
|
High resolution |
|
Low resolution |
 |
Supporting Rose-Hulman Team:
Arthur McGrew (right), engineering design manager at General Motor
Corporation's Allison Transmissions operations, presents a check to
Robert Bright, chairman of the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees and
chief executive officer, in support of the college's Challenge X
project.
|
Arthur McGrew, engineering design manager for GM's new
EP40/50 bus program and GM's corporate contact for Rose-Hulman's
Challenge X team, presented a $6,500 check to support the college’s
efforts to participate this summer in the competition at GM's vehicle
development proving grounds, near Phoenix, Ariz., that will conclude the
second year of the three-year project.
“The Challenge X competition is a real-world engineering experience
that’s giving these students an excellent glimpse into vehicle
development,” stated McGrew, a 1981 Rose-Hulman mechanical engineering
graduate. “The best thing that an engineer can have is passion. These
students have it.
“Rose-Hulman’s team is on the cutting edge in several areas involving
hybrid vehicle development. I have no doubt that Rose-Hulman will have a
top-notch team at the end of the project,” he said.
More than 50 undergraduate students have spent the past 1˝ years
transforming a gasoline-powered 2005 Chevrolet Equinox sport utility
vehicle into a hybrid vehicle that strives to minimize energy
consumption, emissions and greenhouse gas production.
Rose-Hulman is one of 17 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities
participating in the Challenge X competition, sponsored by GM and the
U.S. Department of Energy. Teams must demonstrate their vehicles each
summer to make sure they’re meeting project goals.
For its part, GM has developed the clean hybrid technology through
Allison Transmission, maker of transmissions and hybrid propulsion
systems for commercial trucks, buses, off-highway equipment and military
vehicles, headquartered in Indianapolis. The new transit buses deliver
significantly better fuel economy than traditional transit buses and
produce up to 60 percent fewer oxides of nitrogen emissions and 90
percent fewer particulate, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions.
Other benefits of the buses include reduced maintenance costs resulting
from extended brake, engine oil and transmission oil life; superior
torque, giving 50 percent faster acceleration than conventional diesel
buses and operational sound levels approaching that of passenger cars.
|
