San Fernando Valley : Cal State Northridge Team Enters Design for Car of Future

The car of the future that Cal State Northridge engineering students are helping design doesn’t look from the outside much different than the car of the present.

The 1996 Chevrolet Lumina shell sits in a garage with all its parts taken out, while the students wait to install a motorcycle engine and other specially designed parts that will make the car lighter, to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

“We’re aiming at 80 miles per gallon,” said Shawn White, a graduate engineering student directing the project.

The Northridge student engineers comprise one of 12 university teams nationwide competing in the Future Car Challenge, a contest sponsored by Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet and the U.S. Department of Energy, which aims to design a medium-size vehicle that retains its utility and affordability while increasing its efficiency.

In a preliminary inspection Tuesday before the June final competition in Detroit, officials from the three auto companies and the Department of Energy listened to the students’ presentations on their progress.

Among the modifications to the Lumina, White said the class will replace the car’s 3.3-liter engine with a 1.1-liter BMW motorcycle engine to reduce fuel consumption. The class also has designed a second electric engine to be placed in the trunk. The electric engine will operate the vehicle on city streets, while the gas engine will be used on the highway.