Media Credit: Paul Wentzell Dave Kalen, an engineer for Sensors, Inc., inspects what lies beneath the hood of Virginia Tech's Chevy Equinox. Teams from 17 schools modified their vehicles to see who could achieve the smoothest, most fuel-efficient ride.

A team of UT engineering students joined teams from several other universities from across the country Friday to test drive some of their redesigned energy efficient vehicles.

The "Ride and Drive" event Friday at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus follows a showcase of the teams' efforts last week in Challenge X, a competition to develop an energy efficient vehicle that will decrease the use of petroleum and reduce overall environmental impact.

The 17 universities were selected after teams submitted research proposals. General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy are the lead sponsors of the competition. The teams are in their third year of work toward re-engineering a Chevy Equinox SUV.

"They are using advanced technology and alternative fuels to increase fuel economy and reduce emissions," said Jenny Rios, Challenge X spokeswoman.

The government, the industry and the academic world are all working together toward creating more environmentally friendly vehicles, Rios said.

"It's been proven, and a lot more light has been shed on climate change and how CO2 emissions contribute," said Nicole Munguia a member of UT's Challenge X Team and senior engineering student. "All of us have a lot of interest in automotive design, so if we can get our hands dirty and help the environment at the same time, we feel like we're contributing to a good cause," she said.

The Challenge X teams met in Austin to test their vehicles' on-road emissions, attend technical seminars in which they were able to address some of their questions and learn more about the technology it takes to make an environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient vehicle.

The University of Wisconsin's SUV, named "Moovada," was one of the vehicles ready to test drive at Friday's event.

"Basically, we took out the gas engine and original automatic transmission, made modifications to the engine bay, put in a diesel engine, added manual transmission, modified the exhaust and put in an electric motor in the rear," said team member Matt Michalak, a sophomore nuclear engineering student at the University of Wisconsin.

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