Background
Hi! You have arrived at the SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY HYBRID-ELECTRIC VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WEB SITE.
This project is a team design approach to building a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), integrating off-the-shelf, high reliability products and components. The program is organized by the College of Engineering at San Diego State University (SDSU) and monitored by the Department Of Energy (DOE). With the sponsorship of the California Energy Commission, the project is spearheaded by efforts of faculty members, graduate students, undergraduate students, and select industry consultants. The project has a life span of 16 months, starting September 1998 and ending December 31, 1999.
The overall technical goals of this project are to produce an energy efficient 200 HP vehicle with low emissions that will serve as a test bed for fleet vehicle design and development. The performance characteristics we have set to achieve for our vehicle are as follows:
Top speed: 100 mph
Standing acceleration: 0-60 mph in 7 seconds or less
Range: 300 miles
Fuel consumption: Efficient enough to comply with Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles ( PNGV) requirements of 80 mpg.
- Emissions: Low enough to meet EPA standards for ultra low emissions.
To accomplish these goals, the program will use already developed and proven HEV technologies that will capitalize on the strongest points of both chemical conversion engines and electric drive motors. Chemical conversion engines have the distinguished characteristic of running off of a variety of high energy density fuels that allow for acceptable range characteristics. We will also capitalize on the best of the electric drive motor characteristics such as low-end torque, high efficiency over the majority of the rpm range and zero emissions.
By combining technologies we can also avoid certain downfalls associated with each one. Electric motors alone have a problem with energy storage that greatly reduces range and chemical conversion engines have the significant disadvantage of putting out undesirable emissions, especially during transients.
All phases of planning and design will employ concurrent design and enterprise management software tools. This provides a solid decision making backbone that may be used in the future to support specific choices and decisions.
This web page aims to give the viewer a better account of the various ongoing efforts within this team project. This home page contains a list of hot links that take you to the various subjects related to the development of the project. In each section, the subject is developed and explained in greater detail. Once in a subsection there is always the option to return to the home page or follow other hot links to further explore that specific subject. If there are any questions that arise from the study of the contents of the site please contact us by emailing us.
HEV Team
Department of Mechanical Engineering
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego, CA 92182-1323
Fax: (619) 594-3599
E-mail: hev@kahuna.sdsu.edu