Virginia Tech rising to hybrid challenge

The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team of Virginia Tech (HEVT) is using custom motors and powertrains to re-engineer a 2013 Chevy Malibu to make it more environmentally friendly.

IT ALL BEGAN WHEN THE Hybrid electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) of Virginia Tech was selected to participate in the EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future (www.ecocar2.org) advanced vehicle technology competition. The three-year competition, headlined by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy, challenges 15 universities from across north America to reduce the environmental impact of a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu without compromising performance, consumer acceptability, or safety.

The first year of the competition challenged students to choose a vehicle powertrain architecture and design hybrid components that would be included in this platform. After comparing three different architectures, HEVT chose to pursue a series-parallel plug-in hybrid powertrain, which allows the vehicle to transmit energy through two different paths-increasing the efficiency of the vehicle.