First Generation Supermile
Craig Bridge1, Alex Bush2, Al Jerome3, Scott Hiland4,
Cody Marcotte5, Meet Patel6, Casey Schaible7
Introduction With the growing concern for the potential of exhausting our planet’s fossil fuels, there has been a significant
push for increasing the fuel efficiency in the automotive industry. The purpose of this project is to design,
manufacture, and test a single occupant road vehicle that achieves exceptional fuel economy. Reducing the
weight and resistive forces will be accomplished by incorporating a lightweight tubular frame with an
aerodynamic shell on the exterior. Resistive forces will be further reduced by optimizing the transmission,
engine, and gearing ratio to increase the fuel economy of the vehicle. The vehicle will be powered by a Honda
GX-120 gasoline engine which will be the only source of propulsion. Onboard the vehicle will be an electronic
system that measures various parameters of the engine which are sent through telemetry to a base station. The
base station receives data from the vehicle and records the data in real time so that it can be analyzed in a way
to improve performance based on driver actions.
System Operation The objective of the competition is to design and build a vehicle that consumes the least amount of fuel while
traversing 6 laps of a flat 1.6 [mi] oval course. The weight of the gas tank will be measured before and after the
completion of the 6 laps in order to determine the amount of fuel burned and calculate the fuel economy in miles
per gallon. The vehicle must be capable of running the engine while stationary, turning with a maximum inside
radius of 50 [ft], and contain an escape cover so that the driver can exit the vehicle within 15 [sec]. The engine
parameters will be monitored through a separate base station by the other members of the team to relay how the
vehicle and driver are performing throughout the 6 laps.
Figure: CAD (SolidWorks) Model of the design with some key components labeled
Keywords: Fuel Economy, Supermile, Efficiency, MPG
Daniel Webster College, 20 University Drive, Nashua, NH 03063,
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CBridge@student.dwc.edu, 2ABush@student.dwc.edu, 3ADuyan@student.dwc.edu,
SHiland@student.dwc.edu, 5CMarcottee@student.dwc.edu, 6MPatel@student.dwc.edu,
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CSchaible@student.dwc.edu
2015 ASEE Zone I Conference
Student Poster Abstract
Northeastern University
April 30-May 2, 2015