Automotive National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Automotive

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is one of the Energy's premier laboratories for renewable energy research and development, which leads for energy efficiency research and development. This lab is presently looking for the development of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). A vehicle is called a hybrid when it combines the power of two or more sources of different kinds. For example, a moped (a motorized pedal bike) is a type of hybrid because it combines the power of a gasoline engine with the pedal power of its rider. Similarly, many of the locomotives pulling trains are diesel-electric hybrids.

With the increasing cost of the gasoline, there has been a shift in auto-manufacturing. For example, the gasoline-electric hybrid car is one development of it. The hybrid car has a gasoline engine much like the one is on most cars. However, the engine on a hybrid is smaller and uses advanced technologies to reduce emissions and increase efficiency. The fuel tank in a hybrid is the energy storage device with higher energy density than batteries do. For example, it takes about 1,000 pounds of batteries to store as much energy as 1 gallon (7 pounds) of gasoline. The other part of the hybrid car consists of an electric motor. Advanced electronics allow it to act as a motor as well as a generator. For example, when it needs to, it can draw energy from the batteries to accelerate the car. But acting as a generator, it can slow the car down and return energy to the batteries. The other components of a hybrid car are the generator that is used to produce electrical power, batteries that are used as the energy storage device for the electric motor. Unlike the gasoline in the fuel tank, which can only power the gasoline engine, the electric motor on a hybrid car can put energy into the batteries as well as draw energy from them.

In fact, a hybrid car t is a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car. There are two kinds of hybrid cars. One way is a parallel hybrid. In this, a fuel tank supplies gasoline to the engine. But it also has a set of batteries that supplies power to an electric motor. Both the engine and the electric motor can turn the transmission at the same time, and the transmission then turns the wheels. As a result, in a parallel hybrid, both the electric motor and the gas engine can provide propulsion power. The other is a series hybrid. In this, the gasoline engine turns a generator, and the generator can either charge the batteries or power an electric motor that drives the transmission. Thus, the gasoline engine never directly powers the vehicle.