The KU Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team was the overall champion of the UAE’s Global Hybrid Electric Challenge (GHEC-UAE) held on 21-23 November 2019, where the team won first place in the Electric Vehicle Grand Prix competition and won second place in the Hybrid-Electric Grand Prix (HE-GP) competition.
The GHEC-UAE is an international collegiate competition that promotes education, energy efficiency, and environmental consciousness. The primary goal of the competition is to provide a hands-on environment where students apply what they learn in the classroom to develop real-world solutions.
The competition has two phases. The first phase is the Electric Grand Prix (E-GP) where teams drive their electric vehicles as far as possible for an hour on a closed-circuit track using only energy stored in the vehicles’ batteries. The team with the longest distance traveled during this period wins the E-GP competition. The second phase is the Hybrid-Electric Grand Prix (HE-GP) where teams use petrol to increase their vehicles’ range and run as far as possible in a period of three hours on the closed-circuit track. The team with the longest distance traveled in the three-hour duration wins the HE-GP. The combined results of the two competitions decide the overall challenge winner.
The KU Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team also won the following special awards in the challenge:
- Best Vehicle Workmanship: awarded to the team that showed the highest attention to detail and quality in constructing the vehicle, both in fit-and-finish, and sturdiness.
- Best Use of 3D Printing: awarded to the most creative use of 3D printing in the vehicle.
- Technical Innovation Award: awarded to the team that demonstrates a technical innovation above and beyond the basic design.
- Sportsmanship Award: awarded to the team that exhibits the highest level of sportsmanship by helping other teams, following the rules and regulations, and abiding by the official decisions.
Faculty advisors were Dr. Bashar El-Khasawneh, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. Shakti Singh, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
KU Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team Members included:
- Abdullah Ayman
- Maryam A. Naqi
- Asadullah Saeed
- Mohamad Mussa Ali
- Khaled Alkhoujah
- Omar Essa Buabdulla
- Khadeeja Aljaberi
- Abdula Fawzy
- Qasim Eisa Alblooshi
A second KU team, called the KU Oryx Team, won Best Technical Document for the best written technical report, and the Best Presentation Award, for the best presentation delivered to to the judges, describing how the team was structured, the process for constructing the vehicle, the challenges faced in the project, and lessons learned.
KU Oryx Team Members included:
- Ikhlas Ben Hmida
- Hadeel Faiz Alnahdi
- Muneera Al-Shaibah
- Rzan Raed Al-Haddad
- Shaikha Adel Alblooshi
- Jwahir Albreiki
- Rayya Rashed Alkhanjari
- Ayesha Alhosani
- Aaesha Almazrouei
- Mahra Ali Almarzooqi
