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Founded and run by the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth since 2006, Formula Hybrid takes place each spring at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH. The competition is part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Design Series and is regarded as the most complex and dynamic of the series.
The Formula Hybrid Competition is an interdisciplinary design and engineering challenge for undergraduate and graduate university students. They must collaboratively design and build a formula-style hybrid or electric-only racecar and compete in a series of events. This educational competition emphasizes drivetrain innovation and fuel efficiency in a high-performance application.
Formula Hybrid had its beginnings in 2003 when Dartmouth engineering students began researching their first hybrid racecar in hopes of entering it in that year’s Formula SAE competition. However, a change in Formula SAE rules that year disallowed hybrid entries, thus inspiring the students to develop a hybrid competition based on the Formula SAE program.
Officially founded in 2006 by Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, Formula Hybrid challenges students to design and construct a race vehicle with a hybrid or all electric drivetrain that focuses on fuel efficiency in a high-performance application. Dartmouth hosted the inaugural competition in 2007 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH, where it has grown steadily each year. In 2012, Formula Hybrid introduced the Electric Vehicle Class, the first of the SAE Collegiate Design Series to include all electric.
Engineering a hybrid vehicle provides an unparalleled interdisciplinary hands-on experience that requires students to innovate across mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering disciplines. Hybrid drivetrains present great challenges. The best solutions often result when engineers work together across boundaries. Engineering companies and several of the world’s major automotive manufacturers support Formula Hybrid due to the high quality of engineers who have learned to work outside of their chosen disciplines. These companies can be found at the competition actively recruiting team members for their top-level engineering positions. The Formula Hybrid competition exposes students to the following engineering education and best practices:
