American Chopper and Monster Garage grease monkeys better watch out. Penn State has its own mechanics.
The university is one of 15 nationwide that compete in FutureTruck, a five-year engineering program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Ford Motor Company. Every June the teams meet for an 11-day FutureTruck competition that is held in either Michigan or Arizona. Each school is given a $40,000 to $50,000 sport-utility vehicle and allowed to modify it to improve its fuel economy and interior and reduce hazardous emissions.
"Our goal is to make [a sport-utility vehicle] into a hybrid that gets 25 percent better fuel economy and at least 25 percent less tailpipe emissions," said Jim Schmalzried (senior-mechanical engineering), team leader of the Penn State FutureTruck team. The group seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, said Daniel Haworth, associate professor of mechanical engineering and faculty adviser for Penn State FutureTruck.
The team has so many volunteers because anyone who is interested in the field and dedicated can participate.
"We're willing to teach anybody," Schmalzried said.
Some students work on the project as part of a mechanical engineering design class. "It's a real good opportunity to get hands on experience," said researcher and team member Gary Neal.
Penn State competed in the first FutureTruck competition in 2000 with a Chevrolet Suburban.
"We ripped everything out of [the suburban] and converted it into a series hybrid electric vehicle," Schmalzried said.
In a series vehicle, "the typical combustion engine doesn't power the wheels at all. Electric motors are coupled to the wheels," he said.
The team also raced with the Suburban in 2001, but in 2002, Ford donated a Ford Explorer to the team. This vehicle was used in the 2002 and 2003 competitions and will be raced in the summer of 2004. In this case, the team converted the Explorer into a parallel hybrid, which means "the combustion engine and electric motors work in combination to provide power to propel the vehicle," Schmalzried said.
They also installed advanced entertainment features, such as a touch screen, DVD player, MP3 player, wireless Internet and video conferencing. In addition, they changed the transmission and replaced the standard engines with diesel engines because they are more efficient. "We use aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber to make the vehicle lighter," Schmalzried said.
In 2002, the team increased the Explorer's fuel economy by 22 percent. "We got 23 [miles per gallon] in the city and 30 [miles per gallon] on the highway," Schmalzried said.
Last year in competition, the team won second place for telematics (how the driver interacts with the interior of the vehicle), second place for advanced power train, an award for Best Oral Design Presentation and the Built Ford Tough Award, given to the most reliable hybrid. All together, the team takes home about $5,000 in cash prizes each year.
However, this award is pocket change compared to the actual amount of $250,000 that is put in each vehicle.
"Our budget exceeds $100,000 each year," Krishan Bhatia (graduate-mechanical engineering) said. In order to accomplish its goal, the team asks companies for donations of products and money. So why do it?
"Ford wants to hire some of these students," Haworth said. "They want people with experience."
Other projects also reinforce their experience. Just for fun, the team made a 1984 Pontiac Fiero into a pure electric vehicle. It runs on "a bunch of advanced chemistry batteries," Schmalzried said.
