After placing second overall in a North American competition to design and build an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV), a team of University of Victoria engineering students recently took delivery of a donated vehicle to put theory into practice.

A 2009 Saturn Vue hybrid supplied by General Motors will be used by the team to produce an EREV that demonstrates an increase in energy efficiency and reduction in environmental impact over the stock version of the car.

The donated vehicle is part of the EcoCAR Challenge, a three-year competition among the engineering faculties of 17 North American universities tasked with coming up with leading-edge automotive solutions.

Apart from the vehicle, General Motors provides seed money, mentoring and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy provides team evaluation, technical and logistical support.

"The donated vehicle will provide us real-world experience," says Jeremy Wise, a graduate engineering student and team leader for the 20 students that make up the University of Victoria's Faculty of Engineering's EcoCAR Challenge team. "This will contribute to the education of the students and help develop the next-generation engineers."

The students' design calls for the Vue's 2.4-litre Ecotech engine to run on E85 (85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline). It will have a two-mode transmission, three electric motors (two in the front and one for the rear wheels) and a 21-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. This combination should give the vehicle a 60- kilometre electric-only range.

After building a virtual model of the next-generation hybrid vehicle last year using advanced software and computer modelling tools, the students can now begin to work under the hood of the real thing. The plan is to have the modified vehicle on the road by next spring, when the students will again be judged.

"The UVic team is going for the gold this year," says Wise.

The team can be followed on Twitter: twitter.com/UVicEcoCAR or on their website: ecocar.uvic.ca

parrais@tc.canwest.com