The UAlberta Eco-Car team unveils Alice, its new zero-emissions car. The team is competing in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas April 21 - 24 in Detroit, Michigan.
(Edmonton) The University of Alberta Eco-Car Team unveiled its new zero-emissions car, launched a crowdfunding campaign, and received surprise support from Faculty of Engineering alumni Tuesday.
The team is entering its new hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle, dubbed Alice, in the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas in Detroit April 21 - 24. The team has always finished in first or second place in the international competition and this year, a spot in the top two qualifies the team for the Shell Eco-Marathon London race in the U.K., in July.
With a new chassis, aerodynamic shell, wheels, and electronic controls, Alice is the third iteration of hydrogen fuel cell cars designed and built by U of A engineering students. Team leader Nik Viktorov, a third-year chemical engineering co-op student, says the single-seat car is the result of hard work by talented students.
"I'm incredibly lucky to be here with such a great team," he told an audience of about 100, assembled for the vehicle's official unveiling. The team, he noted, is interdisciplinary, including students in various engineering disciplines as well as students from the Faculty of Arts and the Alberta School of Business.
Another key to the team's success is mentorship-with senior students helping new members.
"Team members have always been mentored, and that's how we're able to make better and better and better cars through the years," he said.
In order to ensure the team's longevity, the group has started a crowdsource fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $10,000. During the unveiling ceremony, the team learned that engineering alumni, through the Spirit of George Ford Endowment Fund, will match donations to the team dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000.
Many of the students had pulled an all-nighter Monday, putting finishing touches on Alice overnight in order to have Alice read for the unveiling. They then spent most of the day outdoors in and fresh-fallen snow and biting-cold wind, as part of a national competition to see which Canadian eco-car team could collect the most signatures on the day of their car's unveiling; the winner will receive funding from Shell to have their car transported to the U.S. competition.
So it came as no surprise that, after months of hard work, Viktorov and his teammates were moved by the generosity of engineering alumni behind the gift.
"It helps us to know that there for sure will be teams after us, who will learn from our mistakes and make better cars than we can," Viktorov said.
Visit the Eco-Car crowdsourcing campaign website to support the team.