It’s ON in Ontario

Meet the ON teams:

Queen’s Eco-Vehicle Team

With a significant investment of time and funds in their aerodynamic, gasoline-powered prototype car ‘Gaia’, the Queen’s Eco-Vehicle team has worked hard to integrate composite materials into their completed vehicle.

Weighing 45 kg, Gaia’s competitive advantage includes a carbon fibre body and chassis, made from thin-walled square steel chromoly tubes of varying sizes and thickness.

For the 2015 Detroit competition, the team completed the carbon fibre body, an electronic fuel injection system and a heads-up display powered by an Arduino microcontroller for driver assistance.

On February 27, these eco-vehicle enthusiasts hosted an ‘Unveiling Event’ on the Queen’s campus to share their innovation and progress with classmates and faculty. Over 1,700 people stopped by to meet the team and learn more about their contribution to mobility of the future.

Queen’s team was founded in 2013 – they hope to come away from the Shell Eco-marathon experience with practical, hands-on technical experience and strong management skills.

To learn more about this Eco-Vehicle teams’ journey to 2015 SEMA, see Facebook or visit the team’s YouTube page.

University of Toronto Supermileage Team

‘UT3’ is the moniker this University of Toronto Supermileage team has given their vehicle. Fueled by gasoline, the team is currently redesigning UT3 to be lighter, faster and more aerodynamically efficient. Their goal is to beat the global record of 12665mpg (5 384km/L).

UT3’s drivetrain is built around a custom designed and in-house manufactured internal combustion engine. At SEMA 2014, U of T was the only team competing with a custom-built engine, and took home the 2014 Technical Innovation Prize.

UT3’s aerobody is an elongated tear-drop shape for maximum aerodynamics. The frontal area is larger than the rear - two wheels in front, one in back. The cockpit allows the driver to rest is a laying position, with steering mounted directly in front. The vehicle is 3m long, 70cm wide, 50cm tall and weighs 47kg.

This team hopes to learn the value of organized team work, collaboration and keeping a shared goal front-of-mind through their Eco-marathon experience. Supermileage has a goal to train members to understand and thrive in a real-world engineering environment, and aid them in becoming professionals in their field.

With a dedicated team of skilled and hard-working students, Supermileage is looking forward to competing with an eye on the first place prize.

Learn more about Supermileage on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

University of Waterloo, UWEMC Team

While the U of T and Queen’s teams have designed and built vehicles fueled by gasoline, the University of Waterloo’s UWEMC team set themselves apart with their battery electric prototype named Javelin. Weighing 35kg, Javelin is significantly lighter than the gasoline-fueled cars.

The UWEMC team recently held an on campus unveiling event to showcase their vehicle – an aerodynamically shaped model, with narrow rounded windows on the side and a larger curved window on the front. The students are putting finishing touches on development of a new motor controller, and looking at potential paint schemes to make the vehicle more attention-grabbing at the competition.

Their main goal in 2015? To win first place in the battery-electric prototype category.  Building off of competition outcomes from 2014, the UWEMC team plans to continue learning - and developing new vehicles for the Shell Eco-marathon - for years to come!

See their Twitter and YouTube pages for more team information.

Looking forward to the Shell Eco-marathon Americas? Watch My News for weekly updates on the various Canadian teams.