TOMORROW’s HYBRID From Volvo: “ReCharge C30″
How It Works: Tomorrow's Hybrid
Popular Science, April 2008, page By Seth Fletcher 2008-03-08
A plug-in concept from Volvo brings the power inside the wheels for increased efficiency and extra mileage
The ReCharge, Volvo's concept plug-in hybrid packs a small electric motor inside each wheel, so that no power is lost in the drivetrain.
How Wheel Motors Drive the Car
Putting electric motors directly inside the wheels (or on the drive shaft) eliminates the transmission, which typically wastes 10 to 20 percent of the engine's energy. An interior disc, mounted to the wheel bearings, contains a series of independently controlled electromagnets, which emit a magnetic field in response to an electrical current. Around that, an outer ring contains permanent magnets. Step on the accelerator, and a computer in the interior ring begins to rapidly switch the polarity of the electromagnets, repelling or attracting the permanent magnets. The faster the polarity changes, the faster the motor spins the wheels.
Time to charge: 3 hrs; Battery range: 60 miles
The challenge is controlling four independent motors - if one spins even slightly faster, the car could veer violently. The ReCharge team's next big hurdle is refining the software that maintains precise control. As for performance, the car will have permanent all-wheel drive with no gearbox standing between your foot and the motors - in other words, it should go like a rocket.
Frankfurt Auto Show:
The ReCharge has a battery-only range of 100 km (62 mi). When driving on electric power only, operating costs are expected to be about 80 percent lower than that of a comparable petrol-powered car. When driving beyond the 100 km battery range, fuel consumption may vary from 0 to 5.5 litres per 100 km (43+mi/gal) depending on the distance driven using the engine. A one-hour quick charge, from any outlet, should provide enough charge to drive about 50 kilometres," says Magnus Jonsson, Senior Vice President Research and Development at Volvo Cars. The ReCharge Concept has been developed at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center (VMCC), the Volvo Car Corporation's think-tank in Camarillo, California."This plug-in hybrid car, when used as intended, should have about 66 percent lower emissions of carbon dioxide compared with the best hybrid cars available on the market today. Emissions may be even lower if most of the electricity in intended markets comes from CO2-friendly sources such as biogas, hydropower and nuclear power," says Magnus Jonsson.
The battery pack integrated into the luggage compartment uses lithium-polymer battery technology. The batteries are intended to have a useful life beyond that of the car itself. The Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), to distribute electrical power to the individual motors at each wheel, is sufficiently powerful to supply an entire villa with electricity. For example it could with minor modifications in principle give the car owner an electricity generator right at his front door in the event of a power failure. Top speed of the ReCharge is 160 km/h.
Volvo ReCharge C30 video
Batteries power all four motors and the car`s electronics. Unlike most plug-in hybrids, the ReCharge uses a lithium-polymer (rather than lithium-ion) battery. This is not only safer-it uses sheets of plastic instead of a volatile electrolyte solution-but it also powers the car for 60 miles before the engine kicks in to recharge it. Small lithium-polymer batteries have started to show up in gadgets such as the iPhone, but Volvo gets its larger, experimental versions from an undisclosed manufacturer.
The engine charges the battery when the car isn`t plugged in. The concept design calls for either a 1.6-liter flex-fuel or turbodiesel engine, but since the engine doesn`t have to actually spin a drive shaft, a fuel cell or a second battery could do the job just as well. It would kick in to recharge the battery only after the battery was at 30 percent capacity, so the ReCharge could travel 160 miles on a single gallon of gas.
A charger feeds power to the battery when the car is plugged in at home. Eventually, the ReCharge will be equipped with an intelligent version that can automatically sense strain in your area`s electrical grid and either cut back its power consumption or feed electricity from its battery back into the system.
Tires must be as thin as possible since the motor makes each wheel bigger.The ReCharge uses specially designed Michelin tires with a soft, resilient surface that also reduces rolling resistance
When will it roll?
About 2015 most likely. The wheel motors, efficient - low profile tires and batteries are already being tested, but intelligent chargers
and the necessary software still need to be developed. Some companies - including Lotus partner Zap - have built cars powered by hub motors. These are similar to wheel motors but they contain gears, which leads to some of the energy loss and high weight that plagues all transmission - driven vehicles.
March 2008, Press Release:
Volvo Car Corporation launches unique cooperation for the development of plug-in hybrid cars in Sweden
Together with electricity provider Vattenfall, Saab Automobile, ETC and the Swedish state, Volvo Car Corporation is launching a joint broad-based research venture to develop spearhead technology in the area of plug-in hybrid cars. Sweden will be the arena for the field tests.
"I see this project as a positive further development of sustainable personal transport. We have a unique opportunity to take the lead when it comes to innovations for advanced green-car technology", says Fredrik Arp, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation.
The aim of the project, which is being carried out jointly by Volvo Car Corporation, Saab Automobile, Vattenfall and ETC, is to develop and demonstrate the next-generation hybrid cars. A fleet of 10 plug-in hybrids will be produced that can be recharged directly from the mains wall socket.
Volvo has long experience of cooperation with a variety of society's actors and with this project the company aims to participate in and shape decisions and initiatives that are taken both within and outside the car industry.
"We want to be involved in setting up the rules for the future and to help build up broad-based competence in Sweden in this vital area," says Fredrik Arp.
Over a five-year period, Volvo Cars will invest just over 11 billion SEK in development aimed at reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Volvo already offers its customers one of the industry's widest ranges of Flexifuel engines. In parallel the company is continuing to enhance the efficiency of its petrol- and diesel-powered cars. 2008 will see the launch of car models that release less than 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre.
Volvo Cars is also focusing intensively on hybrid technology. In the medium term the company will introduce hybrid variants where an electric motor supports the combustion engine. In the longer term, plug-in hybrids will be introduced. One example of this was presented in autumn 2007 with the Volvo C30 ReCharge Concept. Used in the most effective way, this concept car cuts emissions of carbon dioxide by about 65 percent compared with the hybrid cars available on the market today. And if the electricity comes from CO2-sustainable sources such as hydropower and windpower, this figure improves still further.
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