Thursday, April 26, 2012

No. 496: A technology to make a 4x4 electric vehicle even more fun-to-drive (April 26, 2012)

Technology
A research team led by Associate Professor Hiroshi Fujimoto of Tokyo University and Mitsubishi Motors jointly developed the electric vehicle control technology that enables a driver to drive his car without changing his driving sensation even he is traveling on the slippery road. It adjusts the driving power both of the front and rear wheels to maintain the total driving power. It will supposedly become a predominant technology in the future. It can be applied to a 4x4 electric vehicle loaded with an in-car motor and differential gears to make it even more fun-to-drive. 

On the slippery road, the technology gives the preview control that the front wheels tell the rear wheels how many seconds later they get to the slippery point and adjusts the total driving power depending on the anticipated slip. Based on the drive test, the research team found that the gravity applied to the body decreased from 5% of the standard electric vehicle to 2.5%. The rocking vibration the drive feels when he accelerates or decelerates his car can be decreased without a decrease of torque. The research team wishes to establish the control technology for more comfortable travel by solving problems with the control on acceleration and turning.

 
An instrument panel full of the state-of-the-art control technology 

No comments:

Post a Comment