The 100 Year History Of The Hybrid Car

By T J Madigan

The history of hybrid cars is immersed in controversy. Not so much for the product itself, but for the technology it uses. Is it old like the conception of wheel itself, or is it a recent idea, as recent as the embryonic stem cell technology?

First of all, a hybrid car is a vehicle that uses on-board RESS, or rechargeable energy storage system. This is coupled with a fueled propulsion power source for the automobiles propulsion. The Hybrid car is a low-gas consuming vehicle, therefore, a low-polluting vehicle.

The last characteristic is particularly important because of the growing consciousness of people worldwide on the need to protect the environment.

History points to the clear differences between hybrid and all-electric cars. Electric cars use batteries charged by an external source. On this note, almost all hybrids, save for those considered as mild-hybrid, still need gasoline or diesel as their fuel source. Other fuels are also available in the form of ethanol or other plant based oils. Hybrid vehicles also use hydrogen gas occasionally.

What is the history of hybrid cars?

The history of hybrid cars is closely intertwined with the history of the automobile itself. In 1898, Ferdinand Porsche, a young Czechoslovakian, designed the Lohner-Porsche carriage, a series-hybrid vehicle that utilized a one-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine. This engine spun a generator which powered four wheel-mounted electric motors.

The car was eventually presented at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The said automobile, capable of up to 56 km/h (35 mph) fast destroyed several Austrian speed records. In 1901, it won the Exelberg Rally, with Porsche himself driving the car. Mass production during this time was yet to be developed, but for Porsches future-looking design, 300 units of this model were sold to the public.

The first Porsche model however, technically speaking as we know Porsch today, was a hand-built aluminum prototype, and was completed on June 8, 1948.

The development of the first transistor-based electric car in 1959, the Henney Kilowatt, heralded a new development in the history of automobiles as a whole, and the history of hybrid cars in particular. This transistor-based electric car, paved the way for the electronic speed control. Ultimately, this made the road for the development of modern hybrid electric cars possible.

The Henney Kilowatt was considered the first modern electric car. It was a product of collaborative work between the National Union Electric Company, Henney Coachworks, Renault, and the Eureka Williams Company. Whilst the sales of the Kilowatt during this time were far from encouraging, its development served as the prototype for the other automobiles down the line of hybrid cars.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, another prototype of the earlier electric-hybrid vehicle was built by Victor Wouk. Wouk is among the scientists involved with the development of the Henney Kilowatt automobile. For this work, some historians bestowed upon him the honor being the Godfather of the Hybrid hybrid car.

For his pioneering work, Wouk installed a sample electric-hybrid drivetrain into a 1972 Buick Skylark, courtesy GM for the 1970 Federal Clean Car Incentive Program. The program was later axed by the EPA in 1976. Hybrid enthusiast and supporters continued building hybrid automobiles. These models however, were not put into mass production.

In the fading years of the twentieth century however, the history of hybrid cars has taken on a new course.

1978, the regenerative-braking hybrid, was developed by Electrical Engineer David Arthurs. The said regenerative-braking is to have become the core design concept of most hybrids, currently available in the market. The first attempt of Arthurs used off-the shelf components, including an Opel GT. But the voltage controller that links to the battery motor and the DC generator belonged to Arthurs.

Fast forward in the 1990s

The history of hybrid cars took the final step to modernity in terms of mass production during the Bill Clinton administration. Clinton initiated the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles program in September, 1993, that involved the Department of Energy, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, USCAR, and various governmental agencies. The partnership was tasked to engineer a modern efficient and clean vehicle.

In 2001, this program was replaced George W. Bushs own hydrogen focused FreedomCAR initiative. The focus of the FreedomCAR initiative was to fund research that is considered high risk for the private sector to engage in. The long term purpose of which is the development and production of petroleum emission.

The success of hybrid vehicles in terms of mass production however, became a reality, when the Japanese car manufacturer entered the American market. This is when the history of hybrid cars finally took its modern development. Honda Insight and Toyota Prius became the modern progenitor of modern day hybrid vehicle available today in the market.

Biodiesel Testing - Quality and Purity Testing Increase Confidence And Assure Results

By Andrew Stratton

Biodiesel and biofuel production is growing at an ever growing rate as new production facilities appear across Europe, Asia, and the Americas every month. Manufacturers of biodiesel testing equipment are responding to these growing demands to supply the market at every level.

Biodiesel and biofuel production is growing at an exponentially increasing rate as new test-bed plants and full production facilities are being approved every month across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

At present, biofuel production is considered experimental, and compared with other fuel production techniques, the total output is still very low. Feedstock supply lines are therefore quite limited, either being sourced from widely distributed waste products of other industries, or from niche crops like canola, a relatively new rapeseed cultivar. This creates a problem for both major and minor biodiesel producers, who have the daunting task of producing homogeneous, high quality fuel sourced from feedstock of varying and ultimately unknown purity and content. The market has responded to the demands of these new industries to supply quality assurance biodiesel testing equipment for every production scale.

Given the climbing public awareness of global warming and strains on global energy output, governments and corporations around the world are fronting the expense of rebates, research grants, and tax breaks for operators in industries which work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, making the concept of small, high-tech niche-industry start-ups economically viable. This has attracted big investment dollars in Brazil, the United States, and some members of the EU - most notable among these being Germany, where there are dozens of medium and large-scale alternative energy generation plants.

Biodiesel is defined as a diesel equivalent produced via transesterification of common fats and oils. There are three main avenues of supply of feedstock to biodiesel production plants. The first of these is dedicated crops grown specifically for their organic oils. Examples of these include soy beans, canola (rapeseed), oil palms, and algae. Canola and soy accounts for most of the total biodiesel production feedstock for the world, as it can be grown with conventional farming techniques, with predictable results.

The crop with the potential to produce the most oil is actually a species of algae, Botryococcus braunii, however, there remain serious doubts about its viability as a crop. Medium scale ventures prefer the waste by-products of other farming methods. The woody part of corn plants, left over wood pulp, and other biomass materials can be used as a substrate for biodiesel or ethanol producing bacteria. This supply is desirable for medium-scale producers as it results from otherwise less valuable by-products that can be obtained in reasonably large quantities.

Small-scale and hobbyist biodiesel producers are most likely to make use of waste vegetable oils and animal fats from cooking and commercial food production, as these are ubiquitous, but usually available only in smaller quantities, and hobby users are not likely to need any more raw feedstock than is necessary for a tank of fuel in their car every week. Furthermore, it is impractical for larger producers to collect kitchen waste in the same way an individual can, at least until demand grows enough for such infrastructure to be built.

Large scale producers have ongoing testing requirements for samples from billions of gallons biofuel every year. Due to the experimental nature of the industry, initial investment for such projects is quite expensive, however, due to the mostly uniform content of the feedstock crops used, large biodiesel production plants have run fairly reliably once established. For big biodiesel, the emphasis is on quality assurance: There are stringent requirements put on producers to keep levels of pollutants and various contaminants under tight control. Areas tested can include alcohol content, ester content, sulfur, heavy metal, and water quotas.

Additionally, biodiesel must exhibit certain physical characteristics like viscosity and flashpoint temperature. Small and medium scale producers have slightly different challenges to overcome, as they often do not sell their product, but rather, use it internally to power on-site farming machinery, or in the case of a hobbyist, the family sedan. The challenge here is not in producing product that meets stringent sales requirements (although it is desirable), but rather, ensuring that the higher number of relatively small batches are safe and uniform, so as not to produce content that damages the engines of machinery and equipment.

While this work can be done in-house, it is far more economically viable for producers to contract out as possible. Larger testing enterprises usually have of at least one HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) machine or Gas Chromatograph, which are available for less than US$20,000, as well as all the appropriate glassware and apparatus to conduct titrations and other analytic procedures. At the hobby end of the market are self-contained biodiesel reaction vessel kits available for less than $500, and biodiesel testing kits for testing small quantities of product which can be sourced for less than $50.

With the growing public concern over the excess of atmospheric carbon, world peak oil production, and alternative energy solutions, biodiesel is beginning to look like an increasingly appealing stepping stone in between petroleum products and a completely clean implementation of energy storage, like hydrogen. Biodiesel testing requirements factor into the equation for small, medium, and large scale producers to ensure a supply of quality product.