Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Holding to this temperature rise will require reducing the rate of CO
2
accumulation
from 380 ppm in 2005 to less than 450 ppm by 2050 [3].
As we proceed through this introductory chapter much of the material from the
first edition will be retained, but augmented with new material to highlight the
progress made over the past six years in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). In the first
edition, it was noted that all the major automotive manufacturers had announced
plans to introduce HEVs. Now they have and are moving into more electric vehi-
cles (MEVs) such as plug-in and battery electrics.
Technology leadership in hybrid technology continues to be dominated by the
Japanese. According to the US National Research Council [4], North America
ranks nearly last in all areas of hybrid propulsion and its supporting technologies.
Table 1.1, extracted from Reference 4, is a condensed summary of their rankings.
Table 1.1 Advanced automotive technologies supporting hybrid propulsion
ranked by geographical region
Technology
North America
Europe
Asia-Pacific
Internal combustion engine: compression
ignited direct injection (CIDI)
3
1
2
Internal combustion engine: spark ignited
2
2
1
Gas turbine
1
1
1
Fuel cells*
2
2
1
Flywheel
1
1
3
Advanced battery
1
2
1
Ultra-capacitor
3
3
1
Lightweight materials
2
1
1
*Author's assessment
North America ranks high in energy storage technologies primarily because of
developments by the National Laboratories for application to spacecraft use and by
the US Advanced Battery Consortium (US ABC).
Past introductions of gasoline-electric hybrid concept vehicles [5] and
announcements of production plans show that most of the major global automotive
manufacturers have plans to introduce hybrids between 2003 and 2007. Many of
these introductions will be first generation hybrid propulsion technologies, and in
the case of Toyota Motor Co. (TMC) their third generation of products and in 2010
a fourth generation. The prevailing system voltage for hybrid electric personal
transportation vehicles is 300 V nominal. The 300 V level is a de jure standard
adhered to by most manufacturers because it offers efficient power delivery in the
automobile for power levels up to 100 kW or more while meeting the constraints of
power electronic device technology (currently 600 V) and electrolytic bus capacitor
ratings (450 V). TMC has deviated from this system voltage level in their
announcement for the Lexus RX330, Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) concept vehi-
cle. Figure 1.1 shows the display model that is said to deliver V8 performance with
