Wired NextFest Report: Virginia Tech's ethanol-electric Equinox
Ohio State wasn't the only school exhibiting an impressive alternative-powered car at NextFest. The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) from Virginia Tech brought along their Challenge X-winning Equinox.
Challenge X is a 3-phase competition in which 17 teams were chosen to re-engineer an Equinox with the goal of minimizing energy consumption, emissions and greenhouse gases while maintaining performance and utilization.
Virginia Tech's 30 mechanical engineering students took an E85-electric hybrid approach. The car mates a 67 kW Ballard AC induction motor to a Saab 2.0 liter turbo. Kurt Johnson, Virginia Tech graduate student and HEVT's team leader, said they achieved 19.6 mpg during the competition which involved many rigorous stops and starts.
The competition is currently in the 3rd phase in which involves vehicle refinement aiming to deliver a "showroom model" with consumers in mind. Having won phase 2 and owning the overall lead in Challenge X, Kurt expressed a quiet confidence in HEVT's performance over the final stage which will be judged at the end of the academic year in 2007.
To find out more about the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) at Virginia Tech, visit www.hevt.me.vt.edu.
To read more about Challenge X, go to www.challengex.org.
More pics after the jump.
The big red button mounted to the right section of the rear bumper is an emergency electrical disconnect.
Kurt was kind enough to remove an interior panel to show me what he called the "brains" of the vehicle. Yes, that is a Netgear router/switch.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
VR 4:26PM (10/02/2006)
I hate to rain on the parade but 19.6 mpg is flat out terrible.
I drive a 100% stock unmodified 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD, using B99 Biodiesel (99% biodiesel, 1% diesel #2).
I drive the Jeep hard - and I get 19mpg in stop-n-go bumper to bumper urban city driving - even doing things that are terrible in a diesel motor, like starting it up and driving less than a mile then shutting it off again.
On the highway I get 28 to 30 mpg consistantly, and sometimes I can get over 30mpg depending on how I drive. I have even had a road trip at highway speeds towing a 3500lb 20 foot boat and achieved 28mpg.
All in the Jeep Liberty which weighs 5000lbs (heavy for a vehicle of its size) and has one of the worst aerodynamic profiles of any vehicle, and a 4x4 chassis which is less efficient than it could be.
With a "tuning box" or chip I can bump the mileage up a tad (while possibly hurting longivity - but that is not what we are discussing here). 22mpg city and 35mpg highway is possible with that engine (although voids warranty).
All running on biodiesel...
So why are we congradulating people for a mere 19mpg on Ethanol in an "experimental" vehicle when there are already "off the shelf" vehicles that do this type of work?
The Equinox seems to be even a less capable vehicle than the Liberty.
The Dodge/Chrysler voyager minivan worldwide has the diesel engine the Liberty has (the 2.8L CRD) and is more aerodynamic and can carry more people, and has a more efficient powertrain. Runs on biodiesel too. Available now... (just not in the USA yet)
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VR 4:26PM (10/02/2006)
How about this one:
http://www.audiworld.com/news/06/q7-v12-tdi/
It gets 19.76 miles per gallon, and I am sure could burn biodiesel (without warranty support probably).
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Adam 12:35AM (3/27/2007)
First off, I would like to respond to "VRs" comments about the 19.6 mpg that the Equinox is getting. You cannot compare your Biodiesel to the equinox flat out.
First, diesel has way more energy in it then does ethanol and when you put the two in forms of gasoline equivalent, there is a huge diffence in favor of ethanol. For example biodiesel contains more energy then gasoline and ethanol contains less so that when you put them in terms of gasoline equivalents your biodiesel actually gets 16.7 mpgge rather then 19 mpg on a rigorous course (stop and go stated by you) while our equinox gets around 27.4 mpgge. BIG DIFFERENCE HUH!!
Secondly, B99 is not commercially available in the United States and the Challenge X competition is based on making a vehicle that would run off of fuels that are available.
Finally, I would like to know how hard of a drive cycle you ran. At competition we were testing in Mesa, Arizona in 100+ degee temperatures and on a very rigorous drive cycle...not the highway.
Feel free to comment back with questions!
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