Abstract
<p>This final report details the development of the University of Idaho hybrid electric vehicle (UI-HEV) and gives an overview of the competition requirements, summarizes the design features of the UI-HEV and includes research results.<br />The objectives of the University of Idaho FutureTruck project were to </p>
<ul>
<li>Complete the conversion of the 2000 Suburban into a working hybrid electric vehicle ready for competition in June 2001</li>
<li>Educate the public on the benefits of hybrid propulsion vehicles.</li>
<li>Collect data on the performance of the FutureTruck in terms of power generated and energy efficiency. </li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><br />The University of Idaho Advanced Vehicle Concepts Team (AVCT) was successful in designing and demonstrating the conversion of a 2000 Chevrolet Surburban to hybrid propulsion. Besides designing a vehicle to meet or exceed the performance requirements established by FutureTruck 2001 Rules and Regulations, the UI team focused on a series configuration that could complete an urban driving cycle in zero emission mode. The AVCT raised over $100,000 from various sponsors beyond the UTC funding and participated in several community outreach events to promote advanced vehicle technology. Special efforts were made to centralize control and monitoring functions in a programmable logic controller (PLC). Based on modeling results, the UI FutureTruck 2001 entry is predicted to achieve 21 km/L (50 mpg) during typical city driving and 13 km/L (31 mpg) for typical highway driving while maintaining emission levels lower than a comparable vehicle equipped with a 1.9 L diesel engine.</p>