Driven to Learn: My EcoCAR Experience
Krisselle Fernandes: B.Tech Automation Engineering Technology, Level 3
“All you need is the motivation and commitment to learn.”
This is a quote that I fondly remember from the manager of the EcoCAR team at the time. I was just a freshman when I found myself interested in joining a design-focused extracurricular and stumbled across McMaster Engineering EcoCAR. I went to McMaster’s annual “Clubsfest”; an event that showcases the various clubs and teams at McMaster. At the time, the team had just entered into the first year of the 4-year competition. In the previous competition, they were working on the Chevrolet Camaro.
First, let me give you the gist of what EcoCAR is, and what our team does.
EcoCAR is a four-year competition where teams are tasked with changing a stock gas-powered vehicle into a hybrid vehicle — one that is powered by both an engine and a battery. This vehicle would serve its function as part of a car sharing service. The competition is sponsored by General Motors, Argonne and the US Department of Energy. And why the US you ask? This is a North American competition and McMaster is very proud to be part of it alongside the University of Waterloo, as the only 2 Canadian Universities that are competing against 10 other US Universities.
Ever since first year, I lived by the quote from the team manager and learned a lot from the work done and the people that are involved on the team. Every year the team has grown, and is filled with people that share the same curiosity and willingness to learn. My overall experience with EcoCAR has been great so far, with the people I have met and the projects I have gotten to be a part of. Buckle up as I will take you for a ride through my journey at EcoCAR so far.
As a freshman, with not much experience working on vehicles or writing technical documents, my first assignment on EcoCAR was to read about the various vehicle architectures. The plan was to implement one of the chosen architectures into the Blazer and the report was to be submitted to the competition. Then my friends and I were assigned to build an autonomous line-following robot as our first project on the team. This was the first time I was introduced to 3D CAD programs and found it really interesting. This resulted in me taking on the role of the Mechanical designer for the chassis of the robot. Halfway through our project, we were told that we were invited to attend the North American International Autoshow that was held in Detroit, Michigan to showcase our project and represent the team. It was such a fun experience, meeting people in the automotive industry and seeing what other companies are working on to drive the autonomy forward — no pun intended! Once this project was done, I pursued learning more about CAD design and took on some smaller projects.
Moving onto second year, my first big assignment was working on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on a crane which was one of the reports that we needed to submit to the competition. The assignment seemed intimidating at first, but being paired up with someone that had experience with it made me feel a little less nervous. Seeing the stress (not to be confused with my stress) occurring on the structure was really interesting. I was then invited to represent the Mechanical section of the Propulsion & Systems Integration team at the Fall Workshop, hosted by MathWorks in Natick, Massachusetts, to discuss the team’s progress with our sponsors. While all this was happening, I decided to join the Project Management team, representing the Mechanical side of the Propulsion team. It was another great experience where I interacted with students from other universities and learned more about the EcoCAR sponsors through the workshops held.
I was then presented with the opportunity to take on an assignment and act as a lead for the project. It was to create an enclosure that would cool down computer modules that are in the box. It was both a scary, yet exciting learning curve for myself to be acting like a mentor for the students I was working with. Unfortunately, COVID hit, and it stopped the whole team’s progress. But I am still looking forward to continuing to work on the project and start to get involved again as things return to normal.
Overall, EcoCAR has given me a chance to see the overall picture of what work goes into rebuilding the car, right from the design phase to the testing and release of the vehicle. I have noticed the process similarity with the products that are introduced by businesses. This experience has also given me the chance to get hands-on with the vehicle and learn about the various systems that drive a vehicle forward and the autonomy that will be seen on the roads in the future. I hope that one day, with my knowledge from my program, Automation Engineering Technology (B.Tech) mixed with my experience in EcoCAR, I will take my curiosity and be driven to learn in my future endeavours within the automotive and aviation industry!
Tips to drive away with :
- Consider joining extracurriculars that you find interesting or are related to a passion that you have. McMaster Engineering offers a wide variety of clubs and teams that pertain to everyone’s interests. It also is a great way to learn valuable skills that are applicable in the workplace and to meet new friends and build a network!
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I am sure you’ve heard that many times but let me tell you again. I used to ask so many questions about the stuff I was working on and thought I was annoying the project leads. But trust me, the EcoCAR family loves to help out in every way, whether it be on a task that you are working on, they are working on, or on a homework piece for a course that you are having a hard time understanding.
To reach out and learn more about EcoCAR, check out:
Facebook: @MacEngEcoCARChallenge
Twitter: @MacEngEcoCAR
Instagram: @MacEngEcoCARChallenge
LinkedIn: McMaster Engineering EcoCAR Challenge
Click here to chat with our student ambassadors through the Unibuddy platform!
