First Indian Hybrid

On the coat tails of the Mexican hybrid we reported on a few days ago, a group of seven mechanical engineering students of the Delhi College of Engineering claim to have invented India’s first gasoline-electric hybrid car. The car will make it to U.S shores, as it will participate in the annual green car festival organized by the North-East Sustainable Energy Association of the United States this coming May. The car is promoted as being affordable, and having near-zero emissions in urban driving conditions. A 200-Ah lead acid battery was combined with a 1.3 liter fuel tank (that’s 0.34 gallon!) to power an 18 HP 346 cc gasoline engine and a 3.5 HP, 3000 RPM permanent magnet DC motor. It seems the user is able to select operating their car on the gasoline engine or the electric motor. If you ask me, it would probably be more efficient if some sort of electronic control unit did the decision making. It’s also interesting to see an 18 HP engine described as “powerful”.
[Source: The Hindu]