Creating an eco-friendly car: ASU students working to transform Camaro into hybrid

TEMPE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - ASU's Polytechnic Campus is one of 16 universities competing in an intense four-year competition, where they're taking this Camaro and making it into a high-performance hybrid.

"You see the engine out of the 2015 Equinox and then you see a converter over from Rhinehart here in the back and then you see the electric motor that's hidden underneath the car," an ASU student said.

Roughly 45 students are working on it. They're entering year three and this year the goal is to make the car turn on and eventually be good enough to run at a high-performance level.

"The main purpose here is to increase the performance of the car while saving the environment," a student said.

Along with horsepower, students want to give the car more brain power by using Smart technology to alert the driver of hazards in the road.

"To basically try to analyze the environment around the vehicle and have the vehicle understand what's happening, so if it sees a pedestrian or a car in front of it or a a traffic sign or a stop sign, this is mainly for assisting the drive to make the driving conditions more comfortable and make the experiences more safe," a student said.

The students say by next year, this Camaro should be aware of its environment and be a full-functioning high-performance hybrid.

The competition introduces students to tools they would be using in the real-world automotive industry. We're told some graduates have already been hired as automotive engineers because of their experience.