News Release| EcoCAR 2 team update; Cal State L.A.

May 17, 2013

Cal State L.A.’s EcoCAR 2 team performing well against top universities 

Yuma, AZ – Nearing the end of Year Two of the collegiate engineering competition EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future, Cal State L.A.’s (CSULA) EcoCAR 2 team has performed at an astounding rate against North American top university competitors.

The prestigious three-year engineering competition, sponsored by General Motors (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), consists of 15 North American universities working to modify a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu into a functioning hybrid vehicle.

CSULA’s team has succeeded in being the second team to get its engine running and its car fully functioning, and testing it on GM’s Desert Proving Grounds (DPG) in Yuma, Arizona. With three days left in Stage 1 of Year Two, CSULA’s team has continued to excel, being the only university on the DPG that has completed all dynamic testing events so far.

“Our team is proud about the progress we have been making this year and in this competition,” says Kortnee Smith, communications manager for CSULA’s EcoCAR 2 team. “CSULA’s Engineering department is known for participating and succeeding in similar competitions, so we want to ensure we are [doing a good job] representing our University and our home state of California.”

With an award in “Best Pre-Competition Safety Inspection” from night one in Yuma, CSULA’s team is continuing to improve since the beginning of the year. Following next week, the team will be working toward the goals and deliverables of Year Three, which will be optimizing its 2013 Chevrolet Malibu along with completing a series of required outreach events throughout the last year.

For more about CSULA’s EcoCAR 2: https://www.facebook.com/CalStateLAEcoCAR22.

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Working for Californiaa since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 225,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu