ChargeCar: Open Source Electric Vehicles

ChargeCar is a community-centered project of the Robotics Institute's CREATE Lab. Researchers are working with local mechanics to develop methods and components necessary for efficiently converting electric cars into vehicles that can be used for commuting. Initial efforts have focused on 2001-2005 model year Honda Civics...

...ChargeCar also continues to study power management as a way of making electric vehicles more efficient. Unlike the battery-only approach currently being used in the car conversion, this smart power management scheme would combine batteries with an electric storage device called a supercapacitor. By using various artificial intelligence methods to control when electric charge is either drawn from the batteries or stored in the supercapacitor, it should be possible to extend battery life and increase the range and performance of electric vehicles. The project sponsors a monthly contest that challenges participants to develop ever-more-efficient computer algorithms for managing power...

Read the entire story on the Robotics Institute Website:
http://www.ri.cmu.edu/news_view.html?news_id=160&menu_id=239

For more about the ChargeCar Project:
chargecar.org

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• chargecar
• prototype
• createlab
• illah
• carnegie
• mellon
• pittsburgh
• diy
• homebrew
• electric
• vehicles
• ben
• brown
• honda
• civic
• commute
• green
• technology
• robotics
• institute
• automobiles

[camortiz]

what is the life spam of the batteries used for the conversion?