The competition, which took place on New Hampshire Motor Speedway, attracts spectators from major electric car companies such as Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. The technological skill required to build the vehicles makes the competition, which has been running for seven years, an ideal place for car companies to recruit students.
Including Dartmouth's car, only three electric-only cars passed inspection and were able to participate in this year's competition.
"Last year there were 30 cars and some of the fastest were all electric, that's one of the things that so intrigued us," team advisor and engineering professor John Collier said.
Since the students build each vehicle from scratch, the competition is not based strictly on how well teams can drive but on how long they are capable of keeping the car running.
Normally, the College enters a hybrid car into the competition, but the team chose to build an electric-only car this year. In past competitions, Dartmouth Formula Racing had not placed higher than third in the hybrid category.
The team's car received a 170 out of 200 points for design, a perfect score of 100 points for presentation, a 62.3 out of 75 points for acceleration, 128.6 out of 150 points for autocross and a perfect score of 400 points for endurance.
"The competition went really well," team member Darren Reis Th'13 said. "We got a number of different awards. Overall, we were ecstatic."
The 2013 team included nine students and stemmed from a group who took an Engineering Design Methodology and Project Initiation course, co-captain Eric Din '14 said.
To build the car, the team stripped last year's car of its capacitors and internal combustion engine and then redesigned it to accommodate a battery powered energy source.
With the electric-only car, the team members faced new challenges.
The electric car requires battery boxes, which are often difficult to cool, and the team needed to be conscious of battery overheating.
"Once the battery heats to 65 degrees Celsius, the car shuts off so that it doesn't blow up," Din said.
Despite the first place finish, the team was forced to shut off and start up the care several times during the course of the competition.
In 2014, the team will again enter the electric-only competition, though the car will be entirely new.
Next year's team includes several students who are not engineers, and who contribute by fundraising, creating graphics and increasing the team's social media presence.
"We would love to have more involvement," Reis said. "It doesn't have to be engineers. Everyone is welcome."
Collier said the Formula Hybrid Competition enables students to apply academic concepts and test these applications in a competition.
"It provides an education that I simply can't," Collier said.
The competition consists of three components, acceleration, autocross and endurance. The acceleration component tests the car's ability to increase its speed over the course of 75 meters. The autocross portion includes a one lap drive with tight twists and turns. The endurance portion involves a 22 kilometer course on a racetrack.
Staff writer Erin Landau contributed reporting.
