How can we make hybrids cheaper?

Toyota Prius Hybrid

If President Obama is really serious about reducing carbon emissions, then alternative to internal combustion engine cars need to be more and more readily. Currently Hybrid cars such as the Prius are the 'green status symbol' for the Hollywood elite and the wealthy, but they aren't yet mass-produced, and as such costs are higher and waiting lists are long.

However, a researcher from ETH Zurich has now developed a new concept as part of her doctoral thesis that integrates power electronic functions and an electric motor, which could reduce the costs of producing hybrid cars. With the cars becoming more and more embedded in the public's consciousness with actors using them and popular campaigns from the likes of Honda and Toyota citing the benefits, Hanna Plesko, a doctoral student at Power Electronic Systems Laboratory, believes the future of the auto-industry lies with the hybrid and as such has based her doctorate around them. And she doesn't even own a car...

Speaking to Science Daily, Plesko said, "It's rumoured that hybrid vehicles can improve your image, but in some cases the automobile companies have difficulties to cover their costs."

So how can hybrids be produced more cost-effectively? Currently, most of the costs are taken up by the electric motor and the power electronic energy management system, in which inverters and DC/DC converters play a crucial role. However, Plesko's approach is based on a new concept where these components, i.e. the power electronics and the electric motor perform several functions simultaneously.

As well as saving volume, this new system would enable more systems to use the same current. In current hybrid vehicles, batteries not only power the electric motor, but also the radio, ventilation and the lights.

Inverters, which convert the direct current into an alternating current, and DC/DC converters, which transfer the power between the two batteries for the two voltage levels, are therefore important power electronic components in hybrid or electric vehicles. For current hybrid vehicles, these converters are located outside the electric motor. However, Plesko has developed a system for her doctoral thesis that integrates the inverter, the DC/DC converter and the electric motor functionally. By condensing the functions of the drive and the DC/DC converter in combination, certain electronic components and the motor lamination stack can be shared. Large quantities of such functionally integrated systems will be cheaper as fewer raw materials are needed. Moreover, Plesko's design is less complex, making it easier to produce.

Whether or not, Plesko's design is taken up by car companies remains to be seen, but it is a step in the right direction of ensuring that more alternatives to gasoline-run cars are available to consumers.

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