NEW YORK, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventeen university teams began a groundbreaking engineering competition in 2004. Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility, challenged students to re-engineer a crossover sport utility vehicle to minimize energy consumption, emissions, and greenhouse gases, while maintaining or exceeding the vehicle's utility and performance.
(See video from General Motors at: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid959373436)
The extreme competition gave the future engineers an opportunity to participate in hands-on research and development with cutting edge technologies. To accomplish their goal of reducing emissions and improving fuel economy, students integrated advanced automotive technologies and alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel.
For the first two years, students worked on simulation, development and testing -- undergoing extensive judging and evaluation throughout the process. In the final year of Challenge X, students and faculty learned how to refine their vehicles to near-showroom levels of performance, quality and consumer acceptability. Over $90,000 in cash awards and trophies will be distributed to the three winning teams. Sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of Energy, Challenge X also offers a real world bonus. Since the program began, GM has hired over 40 students and plans to make up to a dozen additional offers as the competition concludes.
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