Part one of interview with UC Davis professor on merits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Open Access Article Originally Published: March 02, 2003
There are some folks you just can't help but like first time you meet them. For me one of those people is Dr. Andy Franks, professor of engineering at the University of California at Davis.
I first remember him as the outspoken advocate of EVs at a conference in
Phoenix, Arizona. I have since bumped into him many times at various
electric vehicle events from FutureTruck to the California Fuel Cell
Partnership open house. And we occasionally correspond through email.
His UC Davis FutureCar and FutureTruck teams have consistently placed in
the top rankings of these competitions, so he does more than theorize about
EVs, he and his students make it happen.
So, when he wrote me an email about the inefficiencies of making hydrogen
compared to storing electric energy in batteries, I decided to ask him his
views not only plug-in hybrids -- one of his favorite topics -- but also on
the hydrogen economy. We talked for nearly an hour and what follows, along
with the streaming audio link at right, is the result of that conversation.
I began by asking him to explain the concept of a plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PIHEV) and why he thinks this is the direction automotive
engineers should be going, though none of the big carmakers are at present.
It is his theory -- as demonstrated in UC Davis' latest Ford Explorer
FutureTruck -- that consumers will not only reap the benefits of lower
operating costs, but also improved performance going the plug-in hybrid
route. Basically, what he advocates is dramatically downsizing the
gasoline engine, while increasing both the size of the electric motor and
battery pack.
Historically, the automotive industry has balked at this strategy because
they claim it adds weight and cost to the vehicle.
Professor Frank counters that not only will his plug-in hybrid Explorer
weight nearly the same as a conventional Explorer but more importantly, it
will have more power, to the tune of 330 horsepower when the gasoline
engine and electric motor outputs are combined. He jests that not only
will his vehicle pull anything a V8 Explorer will pull, but that his
vehicle might just pull the hitch right off the frame.
As for added cost, he tells EV World that according to his estimates, a
plug-in hybrid system would add only 10-15% to the total price of the car,
comparable to the cost of adding leather seats and a sun roof. This is
due, in part, to the use of newer, more powerful and cheaper Phase III NiMH
batteries built to custom specifications for the UC Davis team by Ovonics.
He estimates these new batteries will last 150,000 miles because of the
university's battery management system.
GO TO NEXT PAGE >>
|
| Times Article Viewed: 19382 |
|
|
|
Reader Comments
15 comments so far...
04-Jul-2008
62543
| |
Posted by: Ralph DeRango
|
|
06-Jul-2008
62561
| |
Basically Andy, your conversion kit costs too much to put on a used car. Its not cost efficient if you dont have the ten grand to spend. Are we sure that most of the gas in cars is'nt just simply going out the tail pipe? vaporizing the gas is the way to experimant and it can be done.
Posted by: Wade Ellis
|
|
06-Jul-2008
62562
| |
Congratulations to Andy Frank. The hybrid conversion kit is the shortest term approach to reducing gasoline consumption. I had written Governor Shwarteneger about this concept to encourage government participation by giving tax incentives to drivers who purchase conversions. The plug in hybrid has a downside compared to the straight hybrid. The electricity has to come from somewhere and that means more electricity production, usually coal fired and nuclear plants. Andy Franks has the right idea about franchising conversion shops. However the best approach would be a deal with Midas Muffler. The focus should be on California which in every category has the worst record of dealing with transportation issues. Light pick- up trucks conversions would make the most sense, because their presence is ubiquitous, they have the room in the bed, and their gas consumpyion is poor.
Jerrold Winger
Posted by: Jerrold Winger
|
|
06-Jul-2008
62563
| |
This is another in a series of breakthroughs that
seem to get announced and then fade into the
woodwork
Another breakthrough would be the 150 mpg hybrid
developed by AFS Trinity Power and there is a
complete description of it at www.afstrinity.com
We can't let breakthroughs like this get lost
in the shuffle.
Posted by: walt sammon
|
|
11-Jul-2008
62672
| |
How do I go about purchasing this device?
Posted by: Frank Guerrero
|
|
30-Aug-2005
9165
| |
A SYSTEM LIKE THIS FOR THE 'COMMON MAN'WOULD BE VERY NICE. SO FAR, ONLY THE WELL TO DO CAN AFFORD SUCH THINGS. MY WIFE AND I LIVE ON FIXED INCOMES. WE ARE ENVIRONMENTALLY VERY CONSCIOUS. WE HAVE REBUILT THE DRIVE TRAIN OF OUR 18 Y.O. VOLVO, USE SYNTHETIC 'OIL', AND HAVE INSTALLED A 'CAD-BACK' EXHAUST. THIS HAS JUMPED MILEAGE FROM 26 MPG, TO NEARLY 30 MPG, AS WE USE THE 'VACUME' SECTION OF OUR 'TURBO' GAUGE TO DRIVE WITH. IT DRIVES THE 'LEAD FOOTERS' CRAZY, BUT IT WORKS. IF A MEANS WERE AVAILABLE TO INSTALL AND PAY FOR SUCH A MODIFICATION ON THE COMMON CAR, BY PEOPLE THAT DON'T LIVE ON AN ENGINER'S SALERY, I BELIEVE THAT A LOT OF US WOULD OPT TO DO THE MODIFICATION. THERE WOULD BE ENOUGH OF US TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE COUNTRY'S USE OF FOSSIL FUELS. AGAIN, IT IS TOO BAD THAT SUCH MODIFICATIONS ARE ONLY 'AVAILABLE' FOR THE MORE AFFLUENT, AND TECH-SMART VAST MINORITY.
Posted by: herbert bell
|
|
30-Apr-2005
7412
| |
Hi, this is a great idea, what about afstrinity and others using flywheel technology to store energy at night when plugged in and used to captured more of quickly despended braking power."
Posted by: babe ruth
|
|
18-Apr-2004
2397
| |
... if everyone starts to recharge their PIHEVs from the grid at night, won't we run out of power?
One 'answer' (or, how 'bout, 'mitigator'): find one, simple thing that can almost instantaneously reduce the need to build an entire power plant or two:
Change the light bulbs in California.
The new high-efficiency (low heat wastage) light bulbs that are available...and people still aren't buying enough of... use less than one fourth the electrical energy to produce the same amount of light. This not only drastically reduces the electricity they consume themselves...but, because of the greatly reduced heat generated, lessen the amount of air conditioning that light bulbs inadvertently force the usage of.
Note that this savings in light electricity (and a/c) would tend to occur right during the time most such ev's would tend to be being charged: evening/night/morning.
How does one 'jump-start' more universal usage of these? Simple: FOR ONE YEAR--GIVE THEM AWAY.
Don't laugh this off. A state the size of California..as a one-time project, with clear objectives (and IMMEDIATE payoffs)-- could command the world's greatest bulk discount for these things; things that, once given away, automatically reduce the need for electricity state-wide; possibly (?) by enough to prevent the construction of one additional major power plant equivalent.
These modern bulbs also have MUCH longer lifetimes. When people finally end up having to replace them, I think they'll be much more amenable to replacing them with the right type bulbs..especially to avoid seeing their electric bill probably jump back up.
Also note: since such bulbs are so much more longer-lasting, they automatically reduce the amount of waste into the system..another plus, and indirect energy saver."
Posted by: Dave Huntsman
|
|
02-Mar-2003
927
| |
This is the story that I've been waiting very patiently to be told by someone, as I expected it to be true all along.
I say let's implement this stragety ASAP, and get off the denigrating oil dependency and
pollution path that we've become accustom to for far too long.
I know this will not happen without a huge fight from the threatened status quo focus groups, which are many and very cash rich.
Posted by: David Meldrum
|
|
02-Mar-2003
927
| |
This is the story that I've been waiting very patiently to be told by someone, as I expected it to be true all along.
I say let's implement this stragety ASAP, and get off the denigrating oil dependency and
pollution path that we've become accustom to for far too long.
I know this will not happen without a huge fight from the threatened status quo focus groups, which are many and very cash rich.
Posted by: David Meldrum
|
|
02-Mar-2003
927
| |
This is the story that I've been waiting very patiently to be told by someone, as I expected it to be true all along.
I say let's implement this stragety ASAP, and get off the denigrating oil dependency and
pollution path that we've become accustom to for far too long.
I know this will not happen without a huge fight from the threatened status quo focus groups, which are many and very cash rich.
Posted by: David Meldrum
|
|
03-Mar-2003
928
| |
Plugin-hybrids:
Renault is showing their 'Kangoo ElectRoad' serial hybrid for years (I've seen the prototype at EVS18), the latest official release date is spring 2003 for Switzerland: http://www.e-mobile.ch/d/projekte/ecocar/Hybridfahrzeuge.html .
Another swiss company, Esoro, developed an incredibly lightweight hybrid drivetrain in the mid-90s and also built a prototype vehicle, but there was no interest and the project was stopped:
http://www.esoro.ch/E301&H301.html
Same old 'no demand' story...
Regards, Jens
Posted by: Jens Schacherl
|
|
04-Mar-2003
929
| |
Awesome! Where can I buy or Build one?
Ok maybe I'll build one!
Hey didn't i hear of someone talking about plugging in a Prius?
and a Prius can be run on it's battery only for a short while can't it?
lets take the technology and run with it.....
Posted by: Andrew Schaeffer
|
|
04-Mar-2003
931
| |
I have been driving a converted VW Rabbit pickup for 5 years. I am approaching 16,000 miles. The average trip is about 12 miles. This requires about 3Kwh per trip (hey, it's a truck. That comes to about 1.9Mwh. I wonder how much gasoline one would need to burn to generate that much energy? I'll bet I could get by with way less than the present 1000# of batteries I am now using.
I wish I could find an efficient (and quiet)10KW 140VDC generator to put in the rear battery compartment and take out half of my batteries. Any suggestions?
On the other hand, at my present job I enjoy a 15 mile commute, I will do just fine with my present arangement.
I was one of the Electric Automobile Association members who visited UC Davis and CFCP and I was very impressed with Andy Frank's stable of PIHEVs and would love to have one. It is proof of the concept of converting non-electric vehicles but is it ever going to get into peoples heads that SUVs are dumb and electrics are smart? PS I don't see any 10Kwh battery packs in the 500# weight range in $4,000 price range. Am I missing something?
Posted by: Richard Jesch
|
|
23-Apr-2008
61309
| |
This question is for Professor Franks,
I think your plug in car is brilliant, But the question I have is in regard to charging the batteries. Is it possible to set alternators or dynamos so that when the wheels are turning they provide a charge. I realize that there is an energy loss, But could this extend the charge of the batteries for more mileage. I look forward to hearring from you.
Thank You
Posted by: Charles Albert
|
|
