{"id":70050,"date":"2020-10-13T12:26:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=70050"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:59:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:59:04","slug":"industrial-design-zero-emission-car","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/industrial-design-zero-emission-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Industrial Design Students Win National Competition for Zero-Emission Car"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Industrial Design Students Win National Competition for Zero-Emission Car\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

A Carleton University Industrial Design<\/a> student team won the national Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) Project Arrow<\/a> competition, designing a zero-emission concept car using tools such as virtual reality and online communication platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students had originally planned to meet regularly in person, sharing sketches and sculpting physical models, but quickly pivoted to online tools after the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in Canada in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Congratulations to the @APMACanada<\/a> and the winning team from Carleton University on this all-Canadian zero-emission vehicle design! https:\/\/t.co\/d5VpAIwVhH<\/a><\/p>

\u2014 Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThis is a proud and historic moment for Carleton University and its Industrial Design students, Kaj Hallgrimsson, Jun-Won Kim, Mina Morcos, and Matthew Schuetz, to have their design chosen as a lighthouse for Canada\u2019s shift into zero-emission vehicle development,\u201d says Colin Singh Dhillon, CTO of the APMA.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe level of learning and growth must have been \u2018off the charts\u2019 for all the students.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The design brief of the APMA competition was to create a car that could be used in 2025, using zero emissions and also integrating design from Canadian icons and symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The Carleton students spent hundreds of hours thinking through usability and the best way to represent Canadian values in terms of product design semantics. They chose to adopt imagery reminiscent of the pathways carved through the rocks of the Canadian Shield that drivers see all over the country, including on the outskirts of Ottawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did some research on what Canadian values are and narrowed it down to three key words: freedom, stability and simplicity,\u201d says Morcos. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just something we used when designing the aesthetics of the car, but also its usability and functions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The design portion of the competition included two phases. The first phase was an ideation and concept phase that lasted 12 weeks, when the students needed to deliver photo-realistic images to the judges. Then the three shortlisted finalists, including Carleton, were given another 12 weeks to complete the final computer-aided design phase with assistance from Autodesk Technology Centres\u2014where they were placed as part of the company\u2019s distinguished resident program.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n

Working Together During COVID<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The Carleton team, who are third- and fourth-year students, did the work in their spare time while continuing to complete courses and work on internships\u2014all while the world was coping with quarantines related to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was challenging to design the whole thing initially, because we couldn’t see each other due to COVID,\u201d says Hallgrimsson.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cSo instead of meeting in person, we switched to Zoom conferences. Jun and I would draw while Matt and Mina used VR headsets to quickly 3D sketch new updates and ideas for the design as a wireframe. We would take all that information, iterate and build geometry around it and meet again to share progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hallgrimsson says the students rapidly divided tasks and kept iterating, week after week. \u201cWe all designed the vehicle as a group from start to finish, sketching, modelling, rendering and brainstorming together. But in order to finish the presentation materials in time, we divided some of the CAD work toward the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was an extracurricular project the students did on their own accord, which makes it so impressive,\u201d says Bjarki Hallgrimsson, director of the Industrial Design program and father of Kaj. \u201cThe students\u2019 work shows the influence of the education and training they received in the program. The mindset of Carleton students is very ambitious. Their mindset is very centred in holistic thinking, working on the problem to be solved rather than just styling or manufacturing some other aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n

Judges Impressed with Realistic Approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The students were not specifically trained in automotive transportation design before embarking on their project, but took the principles of user-centred design thinking that Carleton\u2019s Industrial Design program instils in its students. For example, the students created accessible seat designs as part of the vehicle to accommodate users who may require wheelchair transfer assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe competition wanted students to explore vehicle types and try to create our own visions for success. We ultimately landed on a mid-sized SUV, because the market for SUVs is increasingly growing here,\u201d says Kaj Hallgrimsson. \u201cThis size vehicle can fit most lifestyles in Canada, (it\u2019s) adaptable for harsh weather conditions and for the needs of both families and smaller households, (and) we paid attention to how each might use the car differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schuetz explains that the team focused on designing for user interaction instead of just aesthetics. \u201cWhen we presented our concept to Autodesk, we could see on their faces that they could imagine being behind the wheel themselves because of our realistic approach,\u201d says Schuetz. \u201cThe vehicle was not just a space-age concept that only we four designers could imagine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Having 24 weeks\u2014the equivalent of two university semesters\u2014to work on the project was a new experience for the students, who were used to working on much smaller group endeavours. \u201cWe used skills from our program such as manufacturability, human-centred design and aesthetics. We also had to learn to communicate well if we disagreed,\u201d says Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Morcos, the key to strong communication was to learn how to dynamically assign roles as the team evolved the design. Usually on smaller Carleton projects, the students have fixed responsibilities to finish their term projects. But in the longer push to finish the APMA design, the students found themselves adjusting as design ideas and issues came up.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe were able to use what we learned in class and design at a human scale, which allowed us to create something with more depth and familiarity than some of the concepts produced by professional transportation designers,\u201d says Morcos.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Carleton administrators also came together to support the students as they worked through the project, which ties directly to the university\u2019s new Strategic Integrated Plan<\/a> that emphasizes preparing students for the future and addressing pressing social issues with a global and sustainable mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton
Larry Kostiuk, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larry Kostiuk, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design<\/a>, helped the students acquire the insurance they needed to participate in the final stages of the competition, as they were integrated into the Autodesk team. The students also received a lot of support from Carleton\u2019s Tony Lackey, the risk assessment officer for COVID-19, to make sure they had the tools they needed to complete the work.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing how everybody stepped up to the plate and supported these students, and the students delivered such incredible work in response,\u201d says Bjarki.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis competition provides further evidence of the excellence of our program, and how it stands out by teaching students to engage with big, real-world problems so as to influence meaningful change for the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These students clearly committed their hearts and souls to the cause of designing the first zero-emission vehicle to be produced in Canada. I am so proud of them, and the hard work they put into this competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>\n\n\n

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A Carleton University Industrial Design student team won the national Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) Project Arrow competition, designing a zero-emission concept car using tools such as virtual reality and online communication platforms. The students had originally planned to meet regularly in person, sharing sketches and sculpting physical models, but quickly pivoted to online tools […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":70056,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25,31,19],"cu_story_tag":[1918],"class_list":["post-70050","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_type-sustainability","cu_story_type-technology-innovation","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97288,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/70050\/revisions\/97288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=70050"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=70050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}