The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) is a student team comprised of undergraduate and graduate students across all of the university’s faculties. The team is currently competing in EcoCAR 2, a competition established by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM). It is a three-year competition that challenges 15 schools across North America to re-engineer a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.
The technical team, lead by Gurhari Singh (candidate for MASc), aims to “green” their Malibu by changing the power train to a series Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). The team is using a battery pack to allow for full electric driving – up to a 50 km range – that was generously donated by a competition sponsor. There were three options considered by UWAFT for extending the range of their vehicle: (1) biodiesel, (2) hydrogen fuel cell, and (3) ethanol. UWAFT’s decision was based on power train modeling, volume considerations, and team knowledge. The competition is scored based on fuel economy, greenhouse gas emissions, petroleum energy use, vehicle performance, and safety/consumer acceptability.
When choosing the engine for their new power train, UWAFT had to consider Wheel to Well emissions. This means considering both the upstream emissions associated with manufacturing, and the emissions being released from the actual vehicle. The hydrogen fuel cell option has the fewest emissions, however due to size restrictions this system could not reach competition range. Biodiesel was not available locally because it is not mass-produced anywhere in Ontario. Finally, ethanol was chosen as the engine could fit in the vehicle and required the least amount of petroleum energy out of the three options.
UWAFT had a choice between two engines from GM that could be used with ethanol: a 1.4L turbo charged engine and a 2.4L naturally aspirated engine. The 2.4L engine is tuned to run on ethanol whereas the turbo charged option is not. Due to the development time associated with tuning an engine to run efficiently with low emissions off of ethanol, UWAFT chose to use the larger engine.
Unlike a conventional car, UWAFT’s engine is not coupled to the wheels. The engine is directly coupled to a generator, which provides energy to recharge the batteries or power the traction motors in the event of high power demands. Two traction motors – one located at each axle – drive all four wheels. Electric traction motors provide instantaneous torque and much higher torque than typical gasoline engines. The higher torque makes electric vehicles more exciting to drive due to quicker acceleration and and elevated responsiveness than typical gas powered vehicles.
Ethanol is typically produced from fermented corn or other plant matter. While this seems like a “green” fuel, there are many diverse implications to its use. Ethanol can cause socio-economic issues because ethanol comes from a food source. If it is used as a fuel, prices of corn will skyrocket making it impossible to purchase corn for consumption. Also, the consistent farming of corn for fuel purposes will severely degrade the land over time, rendering the soil useless for future farming. There is a new process called cellulosic ethanol, which is produced from organic items such as wood chips or switch grass, thus reducing the dependency on food based sources.
The technical team at UWAFT works closely with a business team that is comprised of students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. The purpose of the business team is to source funding for the prototype vehicle that UWAFT is producing, by finding sponsors and organizing fundraising events. GM supports the team by providing the Chevrolet Malibu and $25,000 toward vehicle parts. There is also an outreach team responsible for raising awareness about the future of transportation through the use of blogs, social media, elementary school workshops, and hosting public events.
Recently, UWAFT met with the Mayor of Waterloo to discuss setting up Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations in the City of Waterloo. Current PHEV’s allow for 50 km of driving on one battery charge, which is more than sufficient to meet most people’s needs. By setting up charging stations and promoting the use of EV’s, this initiative could significantly reduce Waterloo Region’s consumption of gasoline. The benefits of this include: cleaner air, reduced cost to the driver, job creation, and having Waterloo recognized around the world as an innovative city. These stations would be located at malls, big box shopping centers, uptown Waterloo, and other high traffic areas.
UWAFT is one of many teams striving to create a better, greener future for transportation. Students like you can influence meaningful change in your community. Ideas start here.
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