DOE EV Challenges Turn Student Teams Into Systems Integrators

Collegiate Vehicle Challenges run by the U.S. Department of Energy have been labeled as workforce development initiatives. But it is much better to see them as systems integration programs packed around the development of production electric vehicles. Recent EcoCAR EV Challenge and Battery Workforce Challenge held in Detroit, Michigan are great examples of what this approach implies for the U.S. auto industry the current era of modern vehicle engineering is all about the ability to integrate software, power electronics, battery hardware, control systems, safety processes and validation procedures.

It is the key significance of the advanced vehicle technology competition program run by DOE for almost 40 years. Hundreds of schools took part in the initiatives, and tens of thousands of participants got jobs within the auto sector after graduation. While these figures demonstrate the importance of the pipeline aspect, there is one more thing these challenges reflect the process that OEMs and auto suppliers go through when developing new models.

Let’s focus on EcoCAR initiative. During four years of the 2026 EcoCAR program, 15 North American colleges were supposed to perform reengineering of a rear-wheel-drive version of the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ electric vehicle. It means that no conceptual vehicles were involved each group worked on improving the automated driving system and vehicle-to-everything connectivity of the production model. Moreover, they should replace the original electric drive unit with some alternative solution.

This combination sounds particularly relevant today since it is extremely close to current practice. The replacement of drive unit is more complex than just developing another electric motor since students needed to handle calibration, integration, packaging, interface and further impact on drivability. With an added layer of work related to automation and V2X communications, their task looked similar to the problem of adding functionality on production vehicles. This aspect was reflected in the scoring besides instrumented tests, there were subjective evaluations of driveability. In other words, vehicles couldn’t win the competition based only on their engineering achievements.

Georgia Tech finished the 2026 EcoCAR EV Challenge in the leading position in terms of final score, and took first place in 8 of 10 dynamic tests. This result seems significant since dynamics are the most sensitive to the quality of integration. A vehicle could demonstrate strong engineering performance in individual tests and lose a couple of places due to poor steering response, propulsion behavior or automated functionality.

Another program worth considering is Battery Workforce Challenge. During three years, 11 teams from various colleges worked on the development of advanced battery packs for Ram ProMaster EV powered by Stellantis. This process involved not only engineering but also validation, safety, building and vehicle integration of battery packs. This list reflects the complexity of this task in production environment since the pack is a combination of mechanical design, thermal management, electrical architecture, control and manufacture safety aspects.

All these things were reflected in the challenge structure since the groups had to go through technical milestones using production-oriented practices. There were design reviews and integration gates in the program with the participation of engineers from Argonne National Laboratory. Students were required to demonstrate advanced engineering skills and capabilities while meeting strict performance requirements.

Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College came first in the Battery Workforce Challenge. They demonstrated efficient team organization and project management skills during this process. It may seem that there is no correlation between these criteria and real engineering work. Nevertheless, there are dozens of projects that fail due to poor cooperation within the team or inefficient project management.

I know that sounds a little crazy, but that’s my goal this whole week get the pack into the van and then get the van running off of that pack, said Joe Borgerson, one of the participants. In other words, a design will never be successful unless it works well within the platform in question. Therefore, this kind of systems integration work represents the essence of modern vehicle engineering.

There are additional implications associated with U.S. industry here since the program provides exposure to platform-related constraints. EcoCAR Innovation Challenge will use production models developed by General Motors and Stellantis companies including Chevy Blazer EV and Jeep Cherokee Hybrid. The program with 20 colleges divided into two tracks will begin in the fall of 2026.

This point is crucial since it allows graduating students to get experience in vehicle-level integration of batteries, propulsion, software, automated features and connectivity. There is one more thing to consider here Jon Darrow emphasized the role of students themselves:

Battery Workforce Challenge is all about electric cars, it’s all about batteries. But it’s also really about the people and the engineers that we develop. We have an opportunity to spend time with them, to spend multiple years, see them work in teams, see them solve complicated systems problems and getting all those components integrated into a vehicle. So, very real engineering.

To sum up, the value of these initiatives does not lie in modifications made by the students. The significance of DOE competition lies in reproducing the systems engineering process used by OEMs and auto suppliers while working with modern EVs. This aspect makes this program highly beneficial for the U.S. auto industry.

By Robert McKinney — Editor-in-Chief for AMI’s automotive and mobility coverage, with a mechanical engineering background and a decade reporting on powertrain systems, EV innovation, and global vehicle manufacturing.