As you know, automakers’ resistance to manufacturing more efficient cars is just that – a "can’t do" attitude. AFS Trinity Power Corp. unveiled a plug-in SUV at the Detroit Auto Show that exceeds 150 miles per gallon combined city/ highway driving.
The firm took two 2007 Saturn Vue Greenline SUVs off a dealer’s showroom floor and equipped them with its patent pending Extreme HybridTM (XHTM) drive train. Its secret is a dual energy storage system that combines Lithium-Ion batteries and ultra capacitors with proprietary control electronics.
The car can go 40 miles using only electric and has a range of 400 miles with hybrid operation. In all-electric mode, the vehicle accelerates from zero to 60 mph in 11.6 seconds; 6.9 seconds in full hybrid mode. It achieves highway speeds of 87 miles per hour in either mode.
Incorporating the technology into commercial production would raise the price of an SUV by about $8,700, but at $2.85 per gallon, the cost savings from using so little gasoline would mean a payback period of only 3.5 years. Prices would come down, of course, with mass production and with government tax incentives.
"Addressing the central limitations of chemical batteries was critical to creating the Extreme Hybrid," explains CEO Edward Furia. "Batteries work best when they provide a slow, steady flow of electricity. Offering enough power for fast acceleration is difficult and damaging to batteries, especially when they are deeply discharged.
"The most common solution is to use many more batteries and simply shallow-discharge them, which is impractical for all but expensive, exotic vehicles. Instead, the Extreme Hybrid accesses AFS Trinity’s long history of developing Fast EnergyTM solutions for NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense and others. At the heart of the technology are patent pending control electronics to cache power for short periods in ultra-capacitors and provide this power in bursts for all-electric acceleration that is better, in many cases, than the internal combustion engine of the host vehicle. Until the Extreme Hybrid, hybrids have resorted to gasoline to satisfy acceleration demands."
Using ultra-capacitors also solves the perceived safety problems, one reason car manufacturers say they resist plug-in hybrids. There have been isolated, but troubling fires involving lithium batteries in laptops that were pushed beyond thermal limits. By using as pools of rapid energy, the Extreme Hybrid’s proprietary control electronics keep batteries within safe resistive heating limits and also extend battery life.
AFS charged technology manufacturer Ricardo with integrating its power and control electronics module into the vehicles, incorporating off the shelf ultracapacitors and batteries. Ricardo also developed a completely new transmission, modified the suspension, chassis control and vehicle build.
Furia says, "Extreme Hybrids don’t need high priced technology and don’t require new or expensive fuels, such as hydrogen, which, according to Argonne National Labs, will cost twice as much as gasoline at the pump and require installation of an infrastructure costing half a trillion dollars. It relies on cheap electricity from America’s electric power grid."
A U.S. DOE study concludes there is sufficient excess electrical generating and transmission capacity during off-peak hours in America’s power grid to recharge 84% of America’s light duty car, truck and SUV fleet – 184 million vehicles – even if they were all converted to plug-in hybrid drive trains.
The company is looking to license its technology to carmakers who want to incorporate the drive train into their vehicles. But if they say ‘no thanks’, AFS intends to raise funds to begin modifying existing hybrids or manufacture its own 150 mpg SUV’s and, eventually, 250 mpg sedans. Furia believes they could have production model available for sale in three years.
AFS Trinity is developing Fast Energy StorageTM energy storage and power systems for vehicular, spacecraft and stationary power systems that use batteries, ultracapacitors, and/or flywheels. The Company has conducted development programs with private and government organizations including DARPA, NASA, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. DOT, California Energy Commission, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Lockheed, Ricardo, Mercedes and Honeywell. AFS Trinity is developing flywheel power systems for Formula One Racing and is developing a system for one of the world’s top F1 teams. American Flywheel Systems, Inc (AFS) received the first patent ever given for a flywheel battery in 1992 and merged with Trinity Flywheel Power to create AFS Trinity Power in 2000.
www.afstrinity.com
Loading...