Important pedestrian safety issues have emerged with the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles. These vehicles are relatively quiet—they do not emit the sounds pedestrians and bicyclists are accustomed to hearing as a vehicle approaches them on the street or at an intersection. In a recent study, human factors/ergonomics researchers examined participants’ preferences for sounds that could be added to quiet vehicles to make them easier to detect.

Though the safety of quiet vehicles has become an issue for pedestrians in general, it is also of concern to the National Federation for the Blind, which has called for quiet vehicles to emit a continuous sound and for additional research on the subject. The authors suggest that older individuals with diminished sensory and motor skills should also be considered as solutions are developed.

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Hybrid bus powered by BAE Systems enters London transit fleet

Transport for London and Metrobus have taken delivery of a red London bus with a difference – this version features a BAE Systems hybrid electric drive train designed to cut carbon emissions.

The HybriDrive system is currently used by transit agencies in America and Canada. The system reduces emissions and fuel consumption while meeting the durability requirements of demanding urban transit operations. It consists of a generator, an electric motor, and an energy storage system managed by computerised controls. A diesel engine that turns the generator operates independently of the electric motor, allowing it to run at nearly consistent speed for optimum efficiency.

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Fraunhofer scientists are developing a high-performance battery for use in hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid technology combines the advantages of combustion engines and electric motors. A hybrid propulsion system switches over to generator operation when the brakes go on, producing electric current that is temporarily stored in a battery. The electric motor uses the current when starting up. While this yields savings, particularly in urban traffic, hybrid technology has always had a storage problem.

The aim of the ‘Electromobility Fleet Test’ project, which was launched by Volkswagen and Germany’s federal Ministry for the Environment BMU, along with several other partners, is to develop an energy storage device based on lithium-polymer accumulator technology suitable for use in vehicles.

ISIT scientist Dr. Gerold Neumann, explained: “This module has to be able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions it will encounter in a hybrid vehicle and above all it must guarantee high operational reliability and a long service life.”

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Using a specially-coated form of clothing material Goretex, scientists at Monash University have developed an electrically-generated fuel cell which could make the next generation of hybrid cars more reliable and cheaper to build.

The team of Monash scientists have designed and tested an air-electrode, where a fine layer – just 0.4 of a micron thick, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair – of highly conductive plastic is depositied on the breathable fabric. The conductive plastic acts as both the fuel cell electrode and catalyst.

Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen, Monash University, explained: “The same way as waste vapour is drawn out of this material to make hikers more comfortable and less prone to hypothermia, so it is able the ‘breathe’ oxygen into our fuel cell and into contact with the conductive plastic.”

Professor Doug MacFarlane, Monash University, continued: “The benefits for the motoring industry and for motorists are that the new design removes the need for platinum, which acts as the catalyst and is currently central to the manufacturing process.

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The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has entered into a collaboration with General Motors and 34 other utilities to facilitate the integration of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the grid, a key step in providing the drivers with an alternative to petroleum fuels.

PHEVs use domestically produced electricity through the grid, with a lower cost to fuel the vehicles than that of petroleum fuels. Additional, research released last year by EPRI and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) pointed to the potential of PHEVs to lower greenhouse emissions.

The EPRI-GM-utility collaboration will work to accelerate large-scale deployment of PHEVs and create a blueprint for an electric fuel infrastructure.

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Toyota has employed the ‘Active Noise Control’ system on its Crown Hybrid vehicle, using three microphones located on the roof of the interior of the car to detect the muffled noise of the engine.

The system then generates antiphase signals from three speakers, two located on the right and left front doors and one rear woofer on the rear shelf, to counter the noise. The system which was implemented after the car’s engine was found to be noisier than expected, reduces the interior engine noise by about 5 to 8dB, the company said.

“We collected the data such as the distance between the microphone and the head of a passenger, the distance between each speaker and the head of a passenger, and the shape of a car interior,” Toyota said.

Surrey Nanosystems is to supply Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) with an advanced spluttering tool, to aid its research into the fabrication of hybrid solar cells.

The tool will be used by researchers in LMU’s Department of Physics and Centre for NanoScience, to develop production techniques that utilise precisely ordered nanowire structures as templates for organic material.

Compared with conventional silicon-based solar energy systems, such new generations of hybrid solar cells have the potential to dramatically lower costs, and provide ‘free’ power for consumer electronics products. By building arrays of organic solar cells on a low-resistance nanowire interconnection substrate, LMU expects to increase the efficiency of the energy conversion process.

A hybrid passenger car modified by NREL researchers is cruising at 100 miles per gallon (mpg) and generating international notice as fuel prices soar to record levels.

The experimental plug-in version of a 2006 Toyota Prius sedan runs the initial 60 miles mostly on battery, with the remainder achieved under engine power.

The sedan’s performance more than doubles the fuel economy of a standard Prius, which is rated at 48/45 mpg. And, it’s a five-fold improvement over the 20 mpg average that passenger cars and light trucks in the U.S. achieved in 2007.

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