About

The Stanford Chem-E-Car Team is a student-led engineering group that designs and builds small-scale vehicles powered entirely by chemical reactions for competition in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Chem-E-Car Competition. These cars must travel a precise distance and stop using only reaction-driven energy and control systems—no external electronics or batteries allowed.

After years of inactivity, the team was successfully revived in 2025 through a student-led initiative spearheaded by Danna Chacon, bringing Chem-E-Car back to Stanford University with a renewed focus on mentorship, collaboration, and hands-on engineering. Since then, the team has rapidly grown into a multidisciplinary group of engineers working across chemical, biological, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

In just its 2nd year back, the team achieved 2nd place at the 2026 Western Regional Conference, held at University of California Santa Barbara—marking a strong return to competition and establishing Stanford as a rising contender in Chem-E-Car.

The current car integrates a zinc–air battery system as its primary power source and a sodium thiosulfate–iodine clock reaction for precise stopping control. Through iterative design, testing, and optimization, we are building a system that emphasizes reliability, safety, and reproducibility under competition constraints.

Being part of Chem-E-Car means engaging in the full engineering process—from reaction design and kinetic modeling to chassis fabrication and systems integration. Members gain experience in:

• Reaction engineering and electrochemistry
• Fluid flow and mass transport in controlled systems
• Mechanical design and prototyping
• Data-driven testing and process optimization

Beyond the technical work, the team develops strong communication skills through poster presentations and technical reports at AIChE conferences, simulating real-world engineering environments.

Most importantly, Chem-E-Car is a community. It’s a space to build something tangible from the ground up, work across disciplines, and be part of a team pushing the boundaries of what chemical engineering can look like in practice!

Areas of interest

• Chemical Engineering
• Material Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Programming
• Mechanical Engineering