11. Other/ Environmental:   New technology will cut plug-in hybrid fuel consumption by one third

An image of the Chevrolet Volt , the world's all-time top selling plug-in hybrid ("File:DCA 06 2012 Chevy Volt 4035.JPG - Wikimedia Commons")


Summary:

 A team of engineers lead by Xuewei Qi, have taken inspiration from the energy savings made by birds flying in formation in order to improve the efficiency of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) by over 30 percent. PHEVs combine a gas or diesel engine with an electric motor and a large rechargeable battery.  Most PHEVs start in all-electric mode, running on electricity until their battery is emptied before switching to hybrid mode. Energy management systems (EMS)
 control power splits between an engine and a battery when they change from electric mode to hybrid mode. This is an easy EMS strategy to apply called binary mode control, but isn't an efficient way to combine two power sources. In lab tests conducted by the team, blended discharge strategies (when power from the battery is used throughout the trip) have proven to be  more efficient at minimizing fuel consumption and emissions. This  new and  highly efficient EMS developed and tested by the team “combines vehicle connectivity information (ex: cellular networks and crowdsourcing platforms) and evolutionary algorithms to decrease fuel consumption by over 30%.

Discussion:

I believe that this is a very positive development that will have an impact on the world because PHEVs are much more efficient than other types of vehicles as the cost of electricity to power plus in hybrids for all-electric operation costs less than one quarter of the cost of gasoline in California ( “Plug-in Hybrid”). PHEVs also produce less air pollution, require less petroleum,  and produce fewer greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming compared to conventional vehicles that run on gas or diesel.  PHEVs also eliminate the problem that all-electric vehicles have called “range anxiety”, in order to achieve driving-ranges similar for vehicles with gas or diesel tanks. By using blended discharge strategies, the vehicles will probably be able to travel longer distances per charge with over 30% less fuel consumption. After reading this article, I have been inspired to buy a PHEV over a all-gas or diesel vehicle  when I am older, especially if I live in a big-busy city so I can help the environment and save thousands of dollars from fuel costs and use them towards something that may matter, such as my education or towards a home.


Works Cited:

University of California - Riverside. "New technology will cut plug-in hybrid fuel consumption by one third: Researchers are combining connected vehicle technology and evolutionary algorithms to make PHEVs more efficient." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 January 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170110194659.htm>.

Plug-in Hybrid - Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_hybrid. Accessed 24 Jan. 2017.

File:DCA 06 2012 Chevy Volt 4035.JPG - Wikimedia Commons. 9 June 2012, https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DCA_06_2012_Chevy_Vol t_4035.JPG#mw-jump-to-license. Accessed 24 Jan. 2017.