Photo by Roy Feldman/Challenge X

The 2008 Challenge X is over and a hybrid clean diesel version of the Chevrolet Equinox (running on B20) has driven away with the top prize. Mississippi State University is the team behind the winning vehicle, and beat out 16 other student teams from across North America. As we learned when we rode in Michigan Technological University's hybrid Equinox last month, Challenge X is a multi-year challenge to modify an Equinox to get more miles per gallon while not giving up any comfort or performance. Teams tried all sorts of alternative power options to make the SUVs cleaner, and the MSU team designed a through-the-road parallel hybrid electric system paired with a turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine (filled with biodiesel) to get a 38 percent efficiency gain and the win, Science Daily reports. The University of Wisconsin – Madison and Ohio State University came in second and third place, respectively, with similar powertrains. The Diesel Technology Forum was happy to read about the diesels' standings in the final result and issued a press release praising the winners. Read it after the jump.

What's next? This fall, the Department of Energy (DOE), GM and Natural Resources Canada will open up EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge. Once again, 17 teams will take part but the vehicles due for eco-updates will be Saturn VUEs.

I took a ride this morning through downtown Detroit in a 30+ mpg Equinox. Originally, the 2005 Equinox got 25 mpg on the highway and 19 in the city. Two Michigan Technological University seniors represented their school at a ride and drive event at GM's headquarters for the Challenge X while the SAE Congress was going on down the street at Cobo Hall. Todd Cimermancic, team leader, and Doug Sarsen, who is in charge of the powertrain, have both been working on the MTU vehicle since this Challenge X began three years ago and were great guides to explain how a group of just over a dozen student (it's fluctuated through the years) has gotten a 30 percent fuel economy increase out of a 2005 Chevy Equinox for the low price of $250,000. Actually, that's how much money has been put into the SUV all together through the years and includes the $300 roof art.

The MTU team decided that reducing weight was the best way to increase mpg, and added lightweight rear seats and polycarbonate windows to shave off a few pounds. The vehicle also has a gas engine that powers the front wheels and a 55 kW electric motor on the rear wheels. With regenerative braking, the Equinox achieves a 30 percent mpg bump, one of GM's original goals for Challenge X. The MTU team has been having trouble with the emissions part of the Challenge, but Cimermancic said he was confident that they'd hit the 30 percent reduction goal with the latest iteration of the system. We'll know the final results when Challenge X ends next month in Washington, D.C. For now, check out our video of this morning's ride after the jump. These kids are pros on camera.

The three-year Challenge X program from GM will end in May with a championship announcement in Washington, D.C. 17 student teams are adding biofuel, hybrid, PHEV and/or hydrogen fuel cell propulsion systems to the Equinoxes. Before the student get to find out who's re-engineered a Chevy Equinox into the best green ride, there are still tests to run and promotion to be had.

The Challenge X vehicle from Michigan Tech will be in Detroit this week and we'll try to make time for another spin in the SUV during the SAE Congress. In mid-2007, the MTU vehicle's belt-alternator starter system (similar to what GM uses in the production Saturn Vue and Aura) felt smoother to us than some production hybrids, even though the team was sitting in the lower half of the pack in the overall rankings.


[Source: GM]