FEV Announces Winners of First FEV Powertrain Development Award

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 25 -- Advanced powertrain engineering company FEV announced the recipients of the first FEV Powertrain Development Award, awarded to three collegiate teams that participated in the 2007 Formula SAE competition held May 16 - 20. The Award was presented on Sunday, May 20, 2007 at the conclusion of the competition.

  The winning teams were:
  1st place: The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  2nd place: The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  3rd place: Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"These three winning teams exemplify the spirit of the FEV Powertrain Development Award," said Robert J. Last, vice president of operations and communications for FEV. "The teams that tend to rise to the top in this competition will not only have a robust and well-tested design -- but they will also have mastered the critical elements of strategy planning, project management, contingency planning, and logistics management. Through this achievement, the winning teams have demonstrated that they understand and can successfully apply these concepts."

The Award is intended to reward the top three Formula SAE teams for overall excellence in powertrain development. It considers aspects such as performance, fuel economy, endurance and cost in determining a winner and uses a quantitative scoring system that is already well known and tested. The FEV Powertrain Development Award emphasizes the elements that are most important in the development of a powertrain and provides the engineering student and FSAE team with an "equation" that can be optimized, much like the product attribute decisions that today's powertrain designers and developers must make in the conduct of their day-to-day activities. This results in multiple solutions that a team can employ to win. Full details of the weight factors and scoring system are available on the SAE website (http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/fsae/).

Of an available 900 points, The University of Toronto scored 694.8 points, the University of Western Australia scored 652.7 points, and Carleton University scored 622.7 points. Of note is the fact that the students of Carleton University achieved their score based on the use of a 1-cylinder KTM engine that provided excellent fuel efficiency. Carleton won the fuel economy portion of the event outright and completed all of the other Formula SAE events, as well. This durable, high fuel efficiency approach propelled Carleton onto the podium and substantiates FEV's intention of allowing for multiple engineering approaches to winning the award.

About Formula SAE

The Formula SAE(R) competition is for SAE student members to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 120 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.

About FEV

FEV is an independent engine and powertrain systems research, design and development company headquartered in Aachen, Germany. Globally, it provides complete concept-to-production (C2P(TM)) support to the transportation industry, commercial engine manufacturers and the emerging fuel-cell industry. The company designs, prototypes and develops advanced gasoline-, diesel- and alternative-fueled engines, as well as advanced vehicle powertrain concepts, electronic control systems and hybrid-electric vehicles. FEV also is a global supplier of advanced test cell, instrumentation and test equipment.