Green Technology

Carnegie Mellon University researchers are seeking efficient methods for managing electric vehicle power through a project called ChargeCar.  They have created a contest to crowd-source solutions to the problem and will award an electric vehicle as the prize.  The contest challenge is to optimize the flow of current between the motor and the power storage system and is expected to run over a year in length.  …

…   “ChargeCar is a community-centered research project of the CREATE Lab  that seeks to revolutionize commuting with electric vehicles.

Working with Pittsburgh-area mechanics, researchers are developing methods for converting gas-powered cars into affordable electric vehicles practical for commuting.

The electric cars will employ artificial intelligence to manage their power, thus improving efficiency and reducing wear-and-tear on batteries.

In addition to batteries, the ChargeCar project will use supercapacitors as part of each vehicle’s power system.

While batteries have trouble handling the surges of power associated with starting or stopping a vehicle, supercapacitors can rapidly discharge current for acceleration and can rapidly store current produced by regenerative braking.

Supercapacitors can thus improve vehicle performance, while reducing wear-and-tear that can dramatically shorten the life of expensive batteries.

The trick, Nourbakhsh says, is finding the best way to handle the flow of power between batteries, supercapacitors and motor.

When should power be transferred from battery to supercapacitor, or vice versa? When should the motor draw power from the battery?

When should it draw from the supercapacitor?

To make these decisions, the system can rely on knowledge of the driver’s normal routes, driving habits, traffic conditions, road conditions, geography, time of day and even weather conditions. “   …

Via Carnegie Mellon University: Electric Vehicle Efficient Power Management (Release).

The ChargeCar Project.

Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor of robotics and director of the Robotics Institute’s CREATE Lab.

Carnegie Mellon Create Lab.