The price of fossil fuels and the increasing inexorable energy crisis have become vital issues for everyone. Tongji University EconoPower Racing Team was established to participate in the “Honda EconoPower Cup” annually. Every contestant in the competition must finish a certain distance in the fixed time, with the gasoline supplied by the committee. After that the committee will measure the fuel consumption of every team and calculate the distance per liter fuel (the farther the better) to determine the champion. In order to enhance the EP vehicle's achievement we've made some improvements, such as framework, body, engine's optimization and so on. In this passage we mainly state some details of our research approaches in framework, steering, transmission, shape and driving strategy. The main technologies were: friction reduction, lightweight, enhancement of power train efficiency, tire selection and driving strategy. With the comparison among several materials, we chose aluminum alloy as our vehicle's framework. Through CAD modeling and simulation we've obtained a quite low aerodynamic drag. By computer analyzing we've optimized the structure and lightened the weight of body. We've optimized the steering system to reduce the cornering drag. We've also improved our power train system to enhance the efficiency of power-transferring. We have optimized the driving strategy to consume less fuel. Through the implementation of all technologies mentioned above, our EP-car' fuel consumption achievement increased from 331km/L to 612 km/L.
