The competition is well underway and we are excited to talk about our technology. Our Full Function Electric Vehicle (FF-EV) is featured here by the Toronto Sun. You can view a video of the article by clicking this link.

The video features Samantha Hazell and Nick Shopian who explain the key features of the competition and the design architecture of their FF-EV creation.

How green is your car?

Not green enough for students from 17 North American post-secondary institutions competing to redesign a donated hybrid Saturn Vue into the most environmentally friendly vehicle possible.

And certainly not green enough for the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, which is the only one of the participants in the EcoCar Challenge transforming their Vue into one entirely powered by electricity.

Now at the end of the first year of the three-year challenge, participants have developed designs for their cars. They'll spend the next two years trying to turn them into reality.

"We made sure it's a vehicle we can use every day and has a range of stability that could be used by everybody," no matter the climate, said UOIT automotive engineering grad Nick Shopian, 23, at the Sheraton Centre yesterday, where all the participating schools had their designs on display.

UOIT is one of three Canadian Schools -- the University of Victoria and University of Waterloo are the others -- taking part.

At the end of each year, there is a week-long competition, sort of like a mini competition within the overall competition, said Patrick Davis, program manager of the U.S. Department of Energy, one of the competition's sponsors.

Top prize for the first year of competition is $7,000, which will help fund the second round of the contest. The top three entries will be announced Friday at the Sheraton Centre.

"The real winners here are the kids, because they learn what it takes to be an engineer and enter the job market," Davis said. "There's an excellent history of these students after competition being hired by automakers and other engineering firms."

In the next year, students will receive a Vue, donated by General Motors, another of the competition's sponsors.

UOIT's design includes a 110 kilowatt motor and 90 lithium polymer batteries, which planners figure will allow the car to travel about 320 km on a single six-hour charge using a regular home outlet.

"We're quite proud to be here," said Ruth Milman, a faculty adviser for the 21-member UOIT team.

"You're looking at a university that started six years ago, but here we are, winning one of the prime spots to compete (in this)."

The competition is also sponsored by Natural Resources of Canada.

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