Battery Workforce Challenge Includes the Ram ProMaster Electric Van
Photo credit: Ram
The Battery Workforce Challenge is a public-private cooperation and North American collegiate engineering competition that involves the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Stellantis, and Argonne National Laboratory as partners. Using the recently released Ram ProMaster electric van, students will be tasked with designing, constructing, testing, and integrating a sophisticated electric vehicle (EV) battery pack. The 2024 Ram ProMaster EV was introduced earlier this year and is a car designed specifically for electrification. This application gives students an exciting opportunity to construct batteries for larger cars. Its unibody design seamlessly incorporates the production battery pack, making it perfect as a work van for doing commercial activities.
“The new Ram ProMaster EV is designed specifically for electrification and provides the students with a great proving ground to push the boundaries of technology,” said Micky Bly, Stellantis senior vice president and head of global propulsion systems. “We look forward to seeing the students’ creative solutions for incorporating a Stellantis battery pack into the vehicle and how their work will help shape the future of mobility.”
Twelve university teams from North America took part in the Battery Workforce Challenge that started in 2023. In order to secure a spot in the top competition, each team collaborated with a local community college and was selected through a competitive process. Participating students will get hands-on experience learning from one of the most relevant real-world engineering challenges now facing the automotive industry, and they will work directly with industry experts to solve the problem.
“Using this new Ram ProMaster EV during the competition is a critical way for the EV workforce of the future to further advance EV transportation technologies, and it contributes to DOE’s efforts to improve the sustainable energy economy,” said DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Sustainable Transportation and Fuels in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Michael Berube.
Argonne National Laboratory’s associate laboratory director for Advanced Energy Technologies, Claus Daniel, stated that the organization’s oversight of the Battery Workforce Challenge logically expands on the lab’s long history of involvement in battery and transportation R&D. Over 30,000 students have received an unmatched automotive engineering education because of our administration of DOE Advanced Vehicle Technology contests, and 60% of EVs on the road today are powered, at least in part, by Argonne technology. “Argonne drives U.S. prosperity and security by accelerating science and training the next generation of workers,”
At the competition’s conclusion in 2026, the winning teams will take home numerous yearly engineering and sponsor-related category prizes, $100,000 in prize money supplied by the industry, and priceless practical experience collaborating with top business executives. The Battery Workforce Challenge is also sponsored by AVL, Dana Corporation, MathWorks, Analog Devices, Inc., Gamma Technologies, and Our Next Energy.
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