Eideard

Automotive technology is evolving at a dizzying pace, and training the next generation of car engineers is no longer confined to traditional classrooms and textbooks. Real-world, hands-on experience is crucial and that’s why collegiate engineering competitions like the EcoCar Challenge are more important than ever before. The 2010 finals have just ended and [Motorweek] we were proud to take part in the judging, so let’s tally up the results.

EcoCar is a three-year competition in which 16 North American college teams were challenged to improve the emissions and fuel economy of a compact GM crossover vehicle while retaining all of its utility, safety and performance.

Teams were allowed to design their own drivetrain architectures, and chosen technologies included full-electrics, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells, and extended range electric vehicles…

After a year of modeling and simulation, teams were given their vehicles for year two, and have worked ever since on implementing their designs. But the students also had to think real-world in terms of packaging their components, fit and finish, drivability and consumer acceptance…

All these kids are top-notch engineers already, even before they’ve graduated. But what we’re doing is giving them experience with the latest tools and techniques, plus a very long-term disciplined process that we give to them and their schools so that they can have a three-year experience doing something really big…

After a grueling week of testing, Mississippi State University claimed top honors for 2010. Their Biodiesel extended-range electric vehicle achieved fuel economy equivalent to 118 miles per gallon while also achieving the fastest acceleration and autocross times and the cleanest tailpipe emissions. Congratulations also go to Virginia Tech for 2nd place, and Penn State in 3rd position.

But the EcoCar Challenge doesn’t end here. Year Three of the competition is when teams must show full component integration in a near-production-ready vehicle.

Bravo! To the students and sponsors together and separately. This kind of hands-on experience is invaluable. And, frankly, the competition seems to be turning out some interesting drive trains.

Scientists have found that it is possible to alter the genetic makeup of the bacterium E. coli to and induce it to produce biodiesel. Most microbes, including E. coli, make and process fatty acids, one of the ingredients of biodiesel; however, what they do with it often leaves something to be desired when it comes to fuel production. By modifying E. coli, scientists are able to make it produce fatty esters, which are the primary components of biodiesel.

Engineering bacteria to do a scientist’s bidding is a good way to obtain desired materials, such as natural compounds for drugs, or in this case, fuels. Since E. coli is a well known and often-studied microorganism, and is able to produce fatty acids before any alteration, it is an excellent workhorse for synthetic biology…

The altered E. coli can receive various inputs, including partially processed material like glucose and ethanol, and produce fatty acid methyl esters, or biodiesel. The bacteria also produce some fatty alcohols, waxes, and simple sugars that may be harvested and used for other purposes. The authors of the paper argue that the process has advantages over corn ethanol and other plant oil-derived biodiesels, as its production doesn’t require the use of anything that could be a food source, which means no issues with higher prices or questionable land use practices.

There is no shortage of agri-business giants capable of supplying us with all the e.coli test materials we would ever need.

Its crew has been threatened by pirates, lashed by storms and almost sunk by floating logs, but now there are blue skies for Earthrace, a biodiesel-powered trimaran, which sailed into the Spanish port of Sagunto and smashed the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by speedboat.

The £3m vessel, which looks more like the Batmobile than a boat and runs on recycled cooking fat, knocked 14 days off the record set a decade ago by Cable and Wireless Adventurer, a British craft…

It was New Zealand skipper Pete Bethune’s second attempt at the record. He abandoned his first last year after a series of disasters that included an attack from pirates off Nicaragua that left a bullet hole in the hull and his own brief imprisonment in Guatemala after a fatal collision with a local fishing boat.

This time Bethune was almost forced to abandon ship again when Earthrace crashed into logs in the surf off Borneo – wrecking the rudder, propeller and drive shaft – and progress was delayed by an expanse of floating rubbish 1,000 miles off California, a seven-day storm in the Indian Ocean and a six-week queue to pass through the Panama canal…

“We’re completely stoked to have achieved something so incredible,” says Bethune. “Earthrace’s success has proved that any form of transport can be non-damaging to the environment as well as being high performance.”

It’s only my personal opinion; but, this effort signals to the dim and desperate travelers between the American coasts that our focus on ethanol as the savior of affordable, renewable transport is better served by starting the trek to diesel power – and bio-diesel fuel. But, then, we’re only a few decades behind the decision-making of the rest of the industrial world.