Practical Approach for Teaching Vehicle Design to Engineering Undergraduates

We present a new practical methodology for teaching vehicle design to engineering undergraduates. Students, after receiving theoretical lessons, programmed an interactive automatic spreadsheet where inputs were the main geometric and physical parameters of a selected vehicles and as output, the spreadsheet must deliver maximum speed, 0-100 km/h acceleration time, maximum slope, tilt and skid. More than 150 students were taught with this practical methodology, turning the theoretical topic into something really applied, close and attractive for the students. The experience assessment shows that students obtained very good grades in the topic while they were very satisfied with the methodology. They demonstrated an excellent understanding of the vehicle mechanical performance calculation process while their curiosity and interest on the topic was very high because it dealt with their preferred vehicles.