Originally published Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 12:03 AM
By Rami Grunbaum
Seattle Times deputy business Editor
Hong Kong hybrid is one smart car
A smart hybrid car that can move sideways to park, or spin around in place to escape a tight spot, is sitting in an unobtrusive garage at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Too bad it's not sitting on a dealer showroom floor, because it might sell pretty well.
The prototype's uncanny maneuverability (note the position of the wheels in the accompanying photo, which shows student Tin Lun Lam preparing to spin the car in place) is a byproduct of other elements designed to make the car more energy-efficient, says Huihuan Qian, a student of professor Yangsheng Xu, who runs the university's Center for Hybrid Intelligent Vehicles.
The car has four independent in-wheel electrical motors. That means no transmission to lose energy through friction, he says. And like many electric vehicles, the motors generate strong torque, which can be adjusted by onboard computers to minimize the slipping of individual wheels on wet surfaces.
China now rivals the U.S. as the world's largest car market, with a handful of large local automakers as well as joint ventures that involve practically every significant Western car company.
Qian says the intelligent-vehicles center is also developing systems that will keep batteries from overcharging or draining too far, which damages an electric car's performance. And using GPS location technology and data on the car's position and direction, the vehicle will be able to predict the driver's next move and prepare accordingly, he says.
The project gets support from the Hong Kong government and industry collaborators such as Shanghai Maple Automotive, a unit of Chinese carmaker Geely. Along with the 12-person Hong Kong lab, there's a team across the border in Shenzhen that's helping carmakers implement some of the lab's work.
Qian acknowledges there are plenty of other groups working to improve the auto, but believes his lab's car will stand out "because we're going to put more intelligence into it."
