Challenge X

Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility, known more commonly as Challenge X, is a four-year competition series amongst engineering students from across North America. Its purpose is to advance vehicle technology towards a goal of sustainable mobility.

The headline sponsors of the competition are The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), and the competition series is managed by Argonne National Laboratories (Argonne). Team evaluation, technical and logistical support is also provided by Argonne. The 2006 – 2007 academic year is the third year of the competition.

A selection process was opened to all accredited engineering programs in the United States and Canada in 2003. Of those schools who submitted proposals to the competition organizers, 17 were chosen as Challenge X participants.

Challenge X is a continuation of the long history of student vehicle competitions sponsored by the DOE since 1987 (Challenge X a). The majority of the competitions involve high level sponsors from both the government and the automotive industry. Challenge X is the latest in these series of competitions. The goal of the competition is to guide students through the engineering design process used at many automotive manufacturers, while developing and exploring various advanced technologies which can be used to reduce energy consumption and vehicle emissions. The vice president for GM's Powertrain Division, Tom Stephens described the competition by saying:

This is the first time that a student competition has emphasized the importance of fuel choice in achieving sustainability mobility. Challenge X provides the student teams an opportunity to take an open-minded well-to-wheels approach to all the issues involved in energy efficiency and emissions – including the fuel source, the propulsion system and the vehicle's real world utility and consumer appeal (Foster).

When applied properly these technologies lead to more sustainable vehicle solutions. As automotive consumers have increasingly purchased large family sized sport utility vehicles over the past decade, the competition vehicle for Challenge X is the Chevrolet Equinox, a GM a mid-size crossover SUV . Student teams are required to maintain the stock vehicle's performance, safety, utility, and consumer acceptability all while attempting to increase its fuel economy and decrease its emissions.

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