The Car FutureCar explained FutureCar is a national competition between 13 of North Americas finest engineering schools. The goal is to produce a midsize automobile that has the following characteristics comparable to today's conventional cars yet achieve 80 miles per gallon. To achieve these goals the schools use a combination of power generation schemes.
Most schools use a hybrid combination of combustion and electric power.
This small engine doesn't have enough power for acceleration so during acceleration, power is drawn from an onboard battery pack and transferred to the wheels through an electric motor. The Michigan Technological University FutureCar, called the North Wind is what's called a series hybrid electric vehicle. Universities that don't use the series method, opt for the parallel or a combination of the two technologies. The engine has no mechanical connection to the drive wheels. This allows the engine to run at an RPM independent of the drive wheels.