Meet Steve

Affectionately referred to as Steve, the urban concept car is a sleek, 300lb model with a modern look. Full of innovation, this vehicle has been built from the ground up with an in-house designed sensors network and fuel cell controller. In addition, the EcoCar Team’s competitive advantage is aided by the car’s aeroshell, made from organically sourced bio-composites such as hemp, flax, cellulose as well as Kevlar. It is innovation like this that the team hopes will set them apart from their competitors.

This innovative hybrid vehicle is valued at an impressive $50,700, including parts and mechanic hours. It is clear that the EcoCar Team and the U of A consider this a serious investment – an investment that they believe is sure to benefit the team and university’s program.

Although Steve has brought this team some success in the past, the eco-team continues to push energy boundaries and hopes to have a new and improved version, named Alice, for the 2016 Eco-marathon.

“Since mid-2013, we have been slowly working on a brand new vehicle, named Alice, which incorporates all the lessons we’ve learned from our first design, but unfortunately we just won’t be able to finish it in time,” says Gyenes. “We’ve made the difficult decision to delay bringing Alice to the race until next year. Nonetheless, we are trying to transplant as much of our newer electronics into Steve as possible.”

With Steve on track to compete in 2015, and Alice in production for 2016, the U of A EcoCar Team looks forward to racing for the first time at the new Shell Eco-marathon Americas destination – the Motor City - Detroit, Michigan.

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