GM Technical Centre India and SAE to host Range Extended Electric Vehicle competition
General Motors Technical Center India (GMTC-I) and SAE Bangalore (Society of Automotive Engineers) are collaborating on an all new student competition — Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV).
GMTC-I today unveiled a locally built prototype electric vehicle (REEV), designed exclusively for the national REEV student competition, at the 37th FISITA World Automotive Congress in Chennai.
REEV competition will explore the new age technology in automotive Industry such as Hybridization, Light weighting, Optimization, Range extension, fuel awareness etc. Through this competition GMTC-I and SAE Bangalore aim to engage the next generation of engineers and making them industry ready. It also aims to inspire students and universities in the wake of Government of India’s planned target to reach at least 30% on-road electric vehicles by 2030.
Students can start applying to participate in the SAE India REEV Student Competition
“I am extremely proud of our team of talented designers and engineers at GMTC-I who developed the Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) prototype. And I’m delighted that the REEV will be the basis for an annual national competition in partnership with SAE for design and engineering students to develop their own vehicles, and drive a new wave of innovation in India,” said Dan Nicholson, vice president, global propulsion systems, GM.
“The world-class engineering capability we have at GMTC-I in Bangalore, India, is playing a significant role in GM delivering its commitment to create a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said Nicholson.
“India has rich history in design, engineering and technological innovation and FISITA 2018 marks the first time the annual congress has been held in India,” said Nicholson, who is attending FISITA 2018 as the global President of the FISITA Council.
Brian McMurray, vice president engineering and operations, GMTC-I, said that the intellectual horsepower of GM’s designers and engineers in India was further demonstrated in the team’s 71 technical papers accepted by FISITA, covering various innovation areas.
“As well as looking to the future of personal mobility, GMTC-I plays an important role in GM’s global core business: designing and engineering world-class vehicles that inspire passion for safer tomorrow,” said McMurray.
“At FISITA, GM has deployed the virtual reality facility to provide real-life experience of car crashes and GM’s safety technology to the public. As well as being a site to find out more about exciting careers at GMTC-I, our FISITA stalls also provide technology demonstrations and the opportunity to discuss automotive design, engineering and innovation with our team. A new addition to the team is MITRA, an AI powered robot helper. The robot was previously showcased at the World Entrepreneurship Summit in 2017 and is designed by Bangalore based startup firm Invento Robotics,” said McMurray.
Mary Teresa Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Company had said that more changes were being witnessed in the automotive industry in these five years, than in the last fifty. Referring to this, Nicholson said that designers and engineers would be at the forefront of this innovation.
