Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Reengineering of a Conventional Sedan for EcoCAR2

Kevin L. Snyder; Jerry Ku

doi:10.4271/2015-01-1235

The Wayne State University student team reengineered a mid-sized sedan into a functional plug-in hybrid electric vehicle as participants in the EcoCAR 2 competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy and managed by Argonne National Laboratory. The competition goals included reducing petroleum usage, emissions, and energy consumption through implementing advanced vehicle technologies.

During the competition, the team did plug-in charging of the 19 kWh high voltage traction battery, drove in pure electric mode (engine off) until the battery was depleted, then switched to hybrid mode and continued driving by using E85 from the fuel tank. The pure electric mode vehicle driving range was 48 km [30 miles] while pulling an emissions instrumented test trailer and projected to be 58 km [36 miles] without the test trailer load for the competition's city/highway blend drive cycle.

Even though the stock vehicle mass of 1640 kg [2616 lbs] was increased 26% by 432 kg [953 lbs] from the addition of the electric powertrain and high voltage battery, the fuel energy was reduced 21% primarily through displacement by grid AC electrical energy stored in the high voltage battery pack, and the petroleum usage was reduced 74% primarily by using E85 instead of gasoline.

However, the Green House Gas emissions increased, mainly due to a CO tailpipe emission increase of 212% above the stock vehicle. The total energy consumption from driving was marginally higher (0.7%) than stock.

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Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Reengineering of a Conventional Sedan for EcoCAR2 2015-01-1235

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