G5 was our gasoline powered car that underwent design work in early 2017 and was completed in 2018 for the Shell Eco Marathon Americas competition in April.
Generational improvements aimed to reduce the overall profile and weight of the vehicle, improve the aerodynamic efficiency by changing the parameters of which the design was based upon, and improving the serviceability of the vehicle.
In Fall 2018, development was taken to convert the vehicle platform to a battery/electric drivetrain system to explore innovation and pursue a new set of technical challenges with a motivated and bright electronics team for the first time. G5 competed in the 2019 Shell EcoMarathon Americas competition in the battery/electric category and secured first place in the prototype category in April.
Two months later the vehicle was converted back to its gasoline drivetrain on the same platform for the SAE Supermileage competition in June. With such a short change-over and little time for testing the engine, the vehicle competed at SAE but was plagued by a myriad of problems as it ran through the technical inspection process. In particular, problems concerning the operation of the engine led to the team not passing technical inspection.
In the 2019-2020 season, the team focused heavily on G5-e, a brand new variant of the G5 that had a canted firewall and re-optimized top pieces of body. The pandemic halted work in March 2020 and we were not able to bring G5-e to Shell Eco-Marathon and G5 to Supermileage SAE.
Moving forward, this 2020-2021 season brings new challenges with health guidelines we abide strictly to in order to ensure the safety of our team. This upcoming season, we are excited to finish manufacturing and test G5-e extensively and optimize G5 for our highest efficiency yet!
RESULTS:
SAE Supermileage 2020 (Gas): 7th place, Virtual Presentations.
Shell Eco Marathon 2020 (Electric): Cancelled due to COVID-19
SAE Supermileage 2019 (Gas): DNF
Shell Eco Marathon 2019 (Electric): 1st place, 152 mi/kwh
Shell Eco Marathon 2018 (Gas): 12th place, 615 mpg