FEDERAL AGENCIES

Future Truck Project . . . Developing Greener SUV's

American buyers have been shifting away from passenger cars - more than half of all new vehicles sold in the United States today are sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and light-duty trucks. These vehicles use more fuel than passenger cars, leading to greater dependence on imported oil and increased exhaust emissions.

In a joint government-industry project by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corporation, Future Truck a competitive student program was developed to meet this challenge. Since that time, more than a dozen well known organizations have joined forces to tackle one of the toughest engineering challenges of our time - taking the country's most popular working SUV and taming its environmental impact making it a "greener" vehicle.

Director for the Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies (DOE), Robert Kirk stated "Reducing our dependence on petroleum and decreasing exhaust emissions is the mission of the Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies (OAAT). America's ever growing need for economical and reliable transportation is leading us into an unsustainable dependence on the world's dwindling supply of oil. We are on the brink of a transportation revolution".

Bringing together resources of industry, government, and academia to solve the important environmental and technical problems posed by the growing demand for SUV's and light duty trucks, Future Truck was developed to challenge the engineering of a full size Chevrolet Suburban.

Student teams from 15 top North American universities were formed to compete against one another. The challenge: to develop alternative propulsion systems and fuels that demonstrate increased energy efficiency and reduced emissions. To do this, students explore cutting edge automotive technologies, such a fuel cells and advanced propulsion systems, space age materials, and alternative fuels such as ethanol and hydrogen. The goal: re-engineer the SUV into a low-emission, high efficiency vehicle-without sacrificing the performance, utility, safety and affordability that consumers want.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Argonne National Laboratory subsidiary, has provided competition management, staffing, team evaluation, and technical and financial assistance. "We are confident that our programs will provide the vital research to meet our nations critical need for personal, light duty transportation, while dramatically reducing exhaust emissions and America's dependence on petroleum" Director, Kirk stated.

General Motors (GM) has supplied brand new vehicles, $10,000 seed money and engineering consulting for each team, competition facilities, and operational support. GM and the DOE are headline sponsors for the Future Truck competitions.

Since the program began new partners and sponsors have been climbing aboard to offer technical expertise, donating equipment and financial support. Many supporters of the Future Truck competition see this as a valuable opportunity to recruit new engineers with demonstrated ability to work with advanced automotive technologies.

Other supporters of Future Truck include: The National Science Foundation, Cisco Systems, Delphi Automotive Systems, Ford Motor Company and BP Amoco. In addition to these major sponsors, several other organizations have joined Future Truck as competition supporters and are providing varying degrees of financial support, technical expertise and equipment. Each of these organizations is also helping in the evaluation of vehicles and presentations of awards to teams. These supporters include: Mathworks, Newark Electronics, National Instruments, Natural Resources Canada, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Renewable Fuels Association, the Governors' Ethanol Coalition and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Through this opportunity, many students are able to compete in similar competitions such as Cisco Systems Telematics Event. Participating teams in this event will explore emerging wireless technologies, as well as on board computing for performing remote vehicle diagnostics, navigation and infotainment. These technologies can enhance driver and vehicle safety and also reduce the vehicle's overall environmental impact. Cisco Systems is supplying technical assistance as well as cash and equipment prizes to selected teams.

For more information on the Future Truck program and this years competition winners log onto http://www.futuretruck.org