Plug In America Announces Grant Program to Support 2009 Formula Hybrid Competition
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FONTANA, CA - June 28, 2008: CAPlug In America, the nation’s leading plug-in car advocacy organization, announces availability of grants for California student teams to design, build and race plug-in hybrid electric cars for 2009’s Formula Hybrid International Competition. The grant funding, up to $15,000 per school, is intended to encourage engineering innovation among California college and university students.
The grants were made possible by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) alternative fuels incentive program. "Formula Hybrid encourages the next generation of engineers to explore and experience the benefits of electricity use for transportation," said Jay Friedland, Plug In America’s Legislative Director. “Hybrids have already demonstrated its advantages--imagine what it can do with plug-in hybrids and beyond."
Last year, Plug In America awarded grants of $12,500 each to student teams at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Irvine to participate in the recently completed 2008 Formula Hybrid Competition. "We are delighted to have more California schools join the Formula Hybrid event," said its Director Douglas Fraser, a research engineer at the Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering, which organizes the competition. "Students are incredibly creative in coming up with novel solutions which push the envelope. I am confident the new California teams will add a great additional dimension to the competition."
Formula Hybrid is an offshoot of the highly successful Formula SAEŽ, a 27-year-old program sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers in which collegiate teams design, build and compete with formula racecars. Formula Hybrid originated in 2003 when Dartmouth engineering students began researching their first hybrid racecar in hopes of entering it in that year's Formula SAE competition. They developed a hybrid competition upon learning that the Formula SAE rules had been changed, just that year, to disallow hybrids.
The competition, which will be held for the third time next year at the New Hampshire International Speedway, is a sort of educational hybrid itself, bringing together mechanical and electrical engineering applications. Both the SAE and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are sponsors of the program, along with Plug In America and major automakers including Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors. Under the program, students design and build an open-wheel, single-seat car that must conform to a strict set of rules, or formulas, that emphasize, encourage, and promote drivetrain innovation and fuel efficiency. A Formula Hybrid vehicle must use at least 15 percent less gasoline than a comparable standard Formula SAE racecar operated under the same conditions, a goal surpassed by many entries. Another guideline involves recycling: unlike Formula SAE, Formula Hybrid teams are encouraged to incorporate used racecar parts rather than build everything from scratch. Many teams see the Formula Hybrid competition as a perfect second-year project for their students, especially after they compete in the events planned at Formula SAE West here in Fontana this week. Student teams from California universities and colleges may find out more about the program and apply for the grants at: http://www.pluginamerica.org/formula or contact Plug In America via email: formulahybrid@pluginamerica.org
About Plug In America
Plug In America is a California-based nonprofit
organization advocating the use of plug-in cars, trucks, and SUVs powered
by cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity to reduce our nation's dependence
on petroleum and improve the global environment. www.PlugInAmerica.org
About Formula Hybrid
The Formula Hybrid International Competition, created in
2006, invites teams of undergraduate and graduate students to design,
build, and race hybrid formula racecars. The event is organized by the
Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Founded in 1867, Thayer
School unites engineering into a single, flexible department to facilitate
innovative research and instruction. www.Formula-Hybrid.org
