Sick of paying $40 or more to fill up your tank? Worried about global warming? If so, you might be interested in the advanced drive systems that student engineers showed off in downtown Detroit on Thursday.
As gas prices remain above $3 a gallon, teams of college students involved in the Challenge X automotive engineering competition used a variety of advanced propulsion technologies. Their goal was to increase fuel efficiency and make vehicles more environmentally friendly without sacrificing their appeal to consumers.
The propulsion systems aren’t planned for production right away, but top engineers from General Motors Corp. and the U.S. Department of Energy said the students’ work could influence future product decisions, help address concerns about the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and limit the emissions believed to cause global warming.
UW-Madison finished second in the contest.