FEV North America, Inc. Announces Winners of 2016 FEV Powertrain Development Award

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, FEV North America, Inc. (FEV) announced the recipients of the 2016 FEV Powertrain Development Award, presented to three collegiate teams that designed, developed and demonstrated exemplary powertrain solutions in the 2016 Formula SAE competition held May 11 – 14 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) near Brooklyn, MI.  The Award was presented on Saturday, May 14 during the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the competition.  This year's competition drew 128 entries from around the world.

The Powertrain Development Award considers critical powertrain-relevant aspects, including performance, fuel economy, endurance and cost in determining a winner.  The Award uses a quantitative scoring system as a metric for the success of the optimization process that the student teams go through as they develop solutions, much like the work that a professional engineer might perform on a day-to-day basis. There are multiple solution paths that a team can employ to win.

The 2016 FEV Powertrain Award winners were:

Notably, in the FEV Powertrain Award competition, the Michigan State University placed 7^th, and the University of Michigan – Dearborn finished in the 9^th position. The University of Toledo also fared well, finishing in the 10^th position. Fourteen of the top 20 finishers were from U.S. and Canadian Universities.

"The technologies and skill set that the students develop for the FSAE competition reflect the type of projects and activities that automotive engineers perform daily," said Robert J. Last, vice president of Communications, Marketing & Compliance at FEV and current member of the SAE Foundation Board of Trustees. "Similar to the engineers that are working in the industry, these teams understand that both high performance and optimal fuel economy are important to both current and future powertrains.  The FEV Powertrain Development Award rewards excellence in these areas by adapting an objective, equation-based approach that can be optimized by the FSAE team.  FEV congratulates the winners and recognizes their efforts."

The top three (preliminary results) overall winners in the 2016 Formula SAE competition were the University of Stuttgart (1^st place), Graz Technical University (2^nd place), and the FH Joanneum University Graz (3^rd place).

Student teams must adhere to the rules specified by the SAE, which can be found on its Web site, www.sae.org.  "The rules for the Formula SAE competition are continuously evolving.  As a result, today's FSAE teams need to develop new, or at least refine their solutions each year," said Last, "but the level of creativity and energy that is on display here at MIS for this event is palpable.  It's always one of my favorite weekends of the year to be here for this event."

"The Collegiate Design Series provides students with an opportunity to experience the complete engineering and business project cycle, including fundraising, design, simulation, prototyping, costing, development testing and continuous refinement of nearly every component on the vehicle, as well as defending their project in a detailed presentation. These are essential skills that engineering students need to acquire to be successful in the industry," said Last.

About Formula SAE
The Formula SAE® competition is for SAE student members to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 100 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.

About FEV Group
The FEV Group is an internationally recognized powertrain and vehicle engineering company that supports the global transportation industry.  FEV offers a complete range of engineering services, providing support across the globe to customers in the design, analysis, prototyping, powertrain and transmission development, as well as vehicle integration, calibration and homologation for advanced internal combustion gasoline-, diesel-, and alternative-fueled powertrains. FEV also designs, develops and prototypes advanced vehicle / powertrain electronic control systems and hybrid-electric engine concepts that address future emission and fuel economy standards.  The company has expanded its engineering capabilities to include full vehicle systems and now offers broad expertise in electronics, telematics and infotainment system engineering. The FEV Testing Solutions division is a global supplier of advanced test cell, instrumentation and test equipment.  The FEV Group employs a staff of over 4,000 highly skilled specialists at advanced technical centers on three continents.  FEV North America, Inc. employs over 450 personnel in its North American Technical Center in Auburn Hills, MI.
www.fev.com

Editors Note: Images of the Formula SAE Competition can be found on the FEV Web site, www.fev.com.

SOURCE FEV North America, Inc.

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