Chemical Engineering Car: Our Story

Have you ever wanted to know what goes in a battery? What kinds of batteries will be used in electric cars in 20 years? How can a spacecraft produce electricity from excess heat? In this club and DeCal (student-facilitated course), students will discover the answers to these questions through a biweekly lecture series accompanied by weekly lab work sessions. Students in this club and course will advance their scientific and engineering knowledge while developing communication and laboratory skills.

ChemE Car at Berkeley was founded in 2013 to compete in the annual Chemical Engineering Car competition sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Historically, UC Berkeley's ChemE Car team has always done very well at the Western Regional Conference, winning several prizes across various events. We are offering the DeCal course to integrate the theory of our projects into the student experience using a lecture format. We have developed a curriculum that covers a novel research topic in electric vehicles and energy storage, as well as the theory and practical applications of each of our projects.

The goal of ChemE Car at UC Berkeley is to provide battery training and wet lab experience to the next generation of scientists and engineers, especially since many have been deprived of such opportunities due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To achieve this goal in a structured manner, club members compete in a competition to design and build a functional car the size of a shoebox. The catch? Our chapter strives to integrate next-generation battery technologies into our cars each year. In doing so we also observe the benefits and weaknesses of each battery type and consider how that would affect policy and consumer opinion of each technology to create a cohesive multidisciplinary understanding of how science and technology fit into society. Currently, our club has five battery teams (Zinc-Air, Magnesium-Air, Supercapacitor, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, and Lead Acid), three clock teams (Vitamin C, Enzymatic, and Electrochemical), and an Electrical, as well as a Mechanical project team.

While we strive for competitive success and hope to qualify for nationals, we want to do so in a way that maximizes how much each member can get out of the experience. To accomplish this, we need funds to experiment and build the car, as well as perform any repairs or maintenance that could not happen during the past semesters of remote instruction. We also need to purchase all of our chemical and chassis-related equipment, so that our cars move seamlessly, and our member's hard work comes to fruition. We hope you will consider donating!