Surging to the finish line, the team from the University of Maryland in their E85-powered Chevrolet Suburban powered to a first place tie with West Virginia University team on the strength of a 12 percent increase in fuel economy in the first FutureTruck competition.

FutureTruck 2000 featured 15 university engineering teams who evaluated their experimental, high-tech, super trucks of the future during a two-week competition in Arizona in June. The goal of the competition is to retain all the features of trucks, while reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

A team from Cornell University also fueled their truck with E85 fuel. Other fuels used by the teams included biodiesel, reformulated gasoline, reformulated diesel and natural gas.

The U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors sponsored the competition. Other sponsors for the event included the Governors' Ethanol Coalition.