Most mornings Izzy Cossarin buzzed into Bay 3 at Ontario Tech University’s Automotive Centre of Excellence at about 8 a.m. Behind an access door stamped “NO TOURS,” she had put in an hour or two of work on the secretive automotive project the school had undertaken, before cutting across the Oshawa, Ont., campus to class.
Even there, Project Arrow — the all-Canadian electric-vehicle prototype sitting partially built at the research and testing lab — was never far from her mind.
“I would have notes and be paying attention in class and have email going [managing] parts being ordered,” Cossarin told Automotive News Canada.
A mechatronics engineering student at the time, Cossarin spent nearly two years working with staff from ACE and the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA), helping move Project Arrow from the drawing board to the Las Vegas show floor at CES in January.
She wasn’t alone.
Andrew Genovese, who’s pursuing an automotive-engineering degree, was another student pulling long hours through the back half of 2022 as the school’s build team rushed to get the concept vehicle finished.
“I’ve been hands-on pretty much every day,” Genovese said. “Anything from the body panels, the suspension, the subframes, interior. Basically, look at a piece of the car, and I’ve had a hand on it.”