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EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future is a three-year collegiate engineering competition established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM). North Carolina State University is designing a Series Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) on a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu vehicle platform. The designed vehicle has a pure electric range of 55 miles and an overall range of 235 miles with a range extension system. The vehicle is designed to reduce fuel consumption and gas emission while maintaining consumer acceptability in the areas of performance, utility, and safety. This reports details the vehicle development process with an emphasis on control system development and refinement. Advanced manufacturing, modeling, and simulation have been used to ensure a safe and functional vehicle at the upcoming year 3 final competition.

The introduction of parallel post transmission hybrid electric vehicles has demonstrated a limitation of previous mathematical models of the hydraulic torque converter. Earlier models developed by Hrovat and Tobler (2) and Kotwicki (4) in the 1980's only covered the cases of the below coupled and coupled states without anticipating the need to analyze the converter in the overrunning case. This study develops the relations for the overrunning case, allowing the reader to establish accurate predictions or computer simulations of the flow, torque, and speeds that will be result in the case of a post transmission hybrid system. Without additional measures, these post transmission hybrid systems will generate large fluid losses in the torque converter.

This talk will describe the nuances of a number of different types of driveline and how these will perform in the school bus marketplace. We will cover the results of the Plug-In School Bus program and some of the successes and challenges seen in those buses. Finally, we will discuss a vision for where the market is likely to go on the next 5-10-and 20 years. Presenter Ewan Pritchard, North Carolina State Univ.

The hybrid electric vehicle is currently changing the automotive market at an impressive rate. While not as highly publicized, the transit bus market is being transformed at an equal rate. As these markets move forward, the school bus market remains largely unchanged. As an unchanged market, there is still the opportunity to optimize a hybrid vehicle platform for school buses. This study begins the modeling process of an existing class C school bus and investigates the potential that both series and parallel hybrids hold to reduce fuel consumption and emissions for a school bus. The primary focus of this study is to investigate the potential benefits of adding an electricity grid interconnection to hybrid electric school buses, allowing them to add to the hybrid potential with a pre-charged battery pack from the electric utility grid. These vehicles are known as plug-in hybrids.