Two UC Davis research cars took top honors in related alternative-fuel contests held recently in Los Angeles and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Built for low or zero tailpipe emissions, "Aftershock" repeated last year's win in the DOE Advanced Student Hybrid Challenge, scoring especially high in energy efficiency. The term project for a mechanical engineering class, AfterShock was designed and constructed from scratch by students. The hybrid car runs mainly on its electric motor but also carries a high-efficiency gasoline engine to extend its cruising range to about 550 miles on a charge and a tank. Another UC Davis entry, "Endura," won the rally's electric vehicle division and placed second overall. Built to showcase the power, range, speed and handling of new technologies, Endura can reach 75 miles per hour and has a cruising range of 175 miles per charge (at lower speeds). An experimental car converted from a Geo Prizm in the UC Davis Electric Vehicle Power Systems Laboratory, Endura won the superstock division of the Arizona Public Service electric vehicle race in Phoenix last month.