Being a graduate of UVM and knowing the club’s advisor and Chairperson personally, I just had to post up this story. Direct from The View at UVM.
This past May 5 - 7 was the International Formula Hybrid Competition at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, NH. Universities from Yale, Dartmouth, and more came to participle included schools from Russia, Canada and Taiwan. The car was designed and built by members of the Aero (Alternative Energy Racing Organization) at the University of Vermont. Their car won Chrysler’s Best Hybrid System Engineering Award, the Best Hybrid-in-Progress Award, the Dartmouth College Thayer School Dean’s Award for Most Innovative Design, and even second place in overall technical design.
The UVM team designed their car nicknamed, “GreenSpeed” as an all-wheel-drive hybrid with front regenerative breaking that recharges onboard batteries. The director of the Formula Hybrid Project at Dartmouth College said “These two things have never been done before” in competition.
All their work of building this amazing machine took a wrong turn with some electronic controls due to software bugs and a pair of $15 failed switches, which took them out of the race for the acceleration and autocross competitions. A bittersweet disappointment for UVM, but a victory by still winning various awards and competing in the 13-mile endurance test.
I knew this is only the beginning of UVM competing Green and will be looking forward to seeing how next years competition pans out.
