By Vanessa Lim

As the semester begins, The Terps Racing Electric Vehicle, or TREV, team is striving to meet its goal of becoming a top-10 team this year. 

Terps Racing began in 1982 with only Internal Combustion and Baja teams. The Internal Combustion team builds vehicles that run on gasoline engines, while the Baja team builds off-road vehicles designed to compete on rough terrain. The Electric Vehicle team was added in 2021 and builds fully electric vehicles that are raced in intercollegiate competitions. The team continues to develop its car each year as it works to improve its performance and climb the ranks in competition. 

Team lead Alina D’Andrade, a senior electrical engineering major, said the team’s main goal this year is to improve its existing car. 

“We’re lucky enough to have a car that has been pretty optimized and designed pretty well,” D’Andrade said. “Our main goal this year is to really dig deep into that car and make improvements on that.” 

Since the creation of TREV, the team has placed 40th in 2022, 51st in 2023, 51st in 2024, 39th in 2025 and 25th in 2026 in the Formula SAE Electric competition in Michigan. 

“We just really need to work on our time management since this past year’s car was finished being built really late, so our drivers didn’t get enough time to actually practice. We didn’t get enough data to make improvements,” D’Andrade said. 

This year, TREV is focusing on testing and data validation. Ayezhan Amir, the team’s aero design lead and a junior mechanical engineering major, said the team compares computer simulations with the performance of manufactured parts.

“The biggest thing for the competition that judges [and companies] value is if you design something … how well does a manufactured product line up to your design,” Amir said. 

The team uses data from its manufactured parts to determine whether their real-world performance matches what was predicted in their computer simulations. Amir said this process helps the team identify areas where its designs can be improved. 

The team is also working to make its car lighter and improve the rigidity of its components. D’Andrade said TREV is planning to move from a single motor to four hub motors, with one on each wheel. 

The team is also beginning work on an autonomous vehicle program. D’Andrade said he hopes to bring freshmen into the program so they can continue developing it in future years. 

“So this year, we just want to get a team set up since none of us really actually know what the process is,” D’Andrade said. “That’s why we want to get freshmen into it and actually get that program started, since they’re most likely going to be actually creating that car.” 

Tajwar Morshed, a sophomore enrolled in Letters and Sciences, attended TREV’s first general body meeting in September. Morshed said that TREV is an opportunity to strengthen engineering skills outside of the classroom. 

“I definitely plan to come back, mostly to brush up on my hard skills,” Morshed said. “They do a lot of simulation, testing, stuff like that, and that’s definitely important for engineering or for engineers to know.”

TREV is open to students from all majors and does not require previous engineering experience. Amir said members receive training and work on projects that allow them to apply classroom knowledge. 

“We teach you guys everything you need to know,” Amir said. “We’ll build you from scratch.” 

As TREV prepares for another competition season, the team is focused on testing earlier, improving its car and collecting enough data to make changes before competition. D’Andrade said the team has made steady progress toward its goal.

Featured Image: Hannah Magruder, Aero Testing Lead, and Ayezhan Amir showing off the Terps Racing Electric Vehicle Team’s car to new prospective students outside of the Cypress Building at the University of Maryland, College Park. Photo by Vanessa Lim.

Correction: An earlier photo caption for this story misstated Magruder’s actions. This story has been updated.