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The Focus Electric is Ford�s first full-featured 5 passenger battery electric vehicle. The engineering team set our sights on achieving best-in-class function and efficiency and was successful with an EPA certified 1XX MPGe and range XXX then the facing competition allowing for a slightly lower capacity battery pack and larger vehicle without customer trade-off. We briefly overview the engineering method and technologies employed to deliver the results as well as sharing some of the functional challenges unique to this type of vehicle. Presenter Charles Gray, Ford Motor Co.

The automotive industry continues to develop new powertrain technologies aimed at reducing overall vehicle level fuel consumption. This paper discusses the development of a new highly efficient parallel hybrid transmission for use in transversely installed powertrains for FWD applications. FEV is developing a new 7-speed hybrid transmission for transverse installation. The transmission with a design torque of 320 Nm is based on AMT (automated manual transmission) technology and uses a single electric motor. The innovative gearset layout combines the advantages of modern AMTs such as best efficiency, low costs and few components (reduced part count) with full hybrid capabilities and electric torque support during all gear shifts. Furthermore, the gear set layout allows for very short shift-times due to the favorable distribution of inertias. Other features include an A/C compressor being electrically driven by the electric motor of the transmission during engine start/stop phases.

The presentation offers a brief history of the electric vehicle and parallels the realities of those early vehicles with the challenges and solutions of the electrified vehicles coming to market today. A technology evolution for every major component of these vehicles has now made this mode of transportation viable. The Focus Electric is Ford's first electric passenger car utilizing the advanced technology developments to meet the needs of electric car buyers in this emerging market. Presenter Charles Gray, Ford Motor Co.

Combustion engines are typically only 20-30% efficient at part-load operating conditions, resulting in poor fuel economy on average. To address this, LiquidPiston has developed an improved thermodynamics cycle, called the High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC), which optimizes each process (stroke) of the engine operation, with the aim of maximizing fuel efficiency. The cycle consists of: 1) a high compression ratio; 2) constant-volume combustion, and 3) over-expansion. At a modest compression ratio of 18:1, this cycle offers an ideal thermodynamic efficiency of 74%. To embody the HEHC cycle, LiquidPiston has developed two very different rotary engine architectures ? called the ?M? and ?X? engines. These rotary engine architectures offer flexibility in executing the thermodynamics cycle, and also result in a very compact package. In this talk, I will present recent results in the development of the LiquidPiston engines. The company is currently testing 20 and 40 HP versions of the ?M?

Vehicle target setting is an evolving process based on continually changing internal (management, standards) and external (competitive and legal) requirements. In addition to evolving requirements, the process for establishing and documenting targets may not be clear. The objective of this paper is to detail the overall process of target setting, the critical factors to consider, and key definitions for each stage of the process. It will describe the complete process from early competitive benchmarking to final verification testing. Setting targets for a vehicle requires definition and thorough benchmarking of the competition, an understanding of the key attributes used to describe the vehicles' performance, and a clearly defined set of requirements. These requirements will be regulatory, corporate and competitively based and grouped by clearly defined, customer perceived attributes which can be cascaded to specific vehicle systems.

In this paper a diagnostic design process is proposed for developmental vehicles where mainstream design process is not well-suited. First a review of current practice in on-board vehicle fault diagnostics design is presented with particular focus on the application of this process to the development of the Ford Escape Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) program and a demonstration Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) program. Based on the review and evaluation of these experiences, a new tool for diagnostics design is proposed that promises to make the design more traceable, to reduce the repetition of work, and to improve understandability and reuse.

Small crack growth from notches under variable amplitude loading requires that crack opening stress be followed on a cycle by cycle basis and taken into account in making fatigue life predictions. The use of constant amplitude fatigue life data that ignores changes in crack opening stress due to high stress overloads in variable amplitude fatigue leads to non-conservative fatigue life predictions. Similarly fatigue life predictions based on small crack growth calculations for cracks growing from flaws in notches are non-conservative when constant amplitude crack growth data are used. These non-conservative predictions have, in both cases, been shown to be due to severe reductions in fatigue crack closure arising from large (overload or underload) cycles in a typical service load history.

Dynamic vehicle loads play critical roles for automotive controls including battery management, transmission shift scheduling, distance-to-empty predictions, and various active safety systems. Accurate real-time estimation of vehicle loads such as those due to vehicle mass and road grade can thus improve safety, efficiency, and performance. While several estimation methods have been proposed in literature, none have seen widespread adoption in current vehicle technologies despite their potential to significantly improve automotive controls. To understand and bridge the gap between research development and wider adoption of real-time load estimation, this paper assesses the accuracy and performance of four estimation methods that predict vehicle mass and/or road grade.

As the world's largest auto producer and consumer, China is both the most promising and complex market given the country's rapid economic growth, huge population, and many regional and segment preference differences. This research is aimed at developing data-driven demand models for customer preference analysis and prediction under a competitive market environment. Regional analysis is first used to understand the impact of geographical factors on customer preference. After a comprehensive data exploration, a customer-level mixed logit model is built to shed light on fast-growing vehicle segments in the Chinese auto market. By combining the data of vehicle purchase, consideration, and past choice, cross-shopping behaviors and brand influence are explicitly modeled in addition to the impact of customer demographics, usage behaviors, and attributes of vehicles.

The efforts of the ISO “Test Variability Task Force” have been aimed at improving the understanding and at reducing brake dynamometer test variability during performance testing. In addition, dynamometer test results have been compared and correlated to vehicle testing. Even though there is already a vast amount of anecdotal evidence confirming the fact that different procedures generate different friction coefficients on the same brake corner, the availability of supporting data to the industry has been elusive up to this point. To overcome this issue, this paper focuses on assessing friction levels, friction coefficient sensitivity, and repeatability under ECE, GB, ISO, JASO, and SAE laboratory friction evaluation tests.

The Service Bay Diagnostic System (SBDS) will be designed to assist the dealership technician in diagnosing and repairing Ford Motor vehicles. The system hardware will be configured around a Service Bay Computer with mass storage capability and auxiliary service equipment. Major system features include: guided service writer/customer interaction, interactive vehicle diagnostics, information management. capabilities, and an additional aid to identifying intermittent failures through the use of a portable over-the-road data acquisition device. In order to assist the technician in properly diagnosing the causal factor, the Service Bay Computer System will also be enhanced through the use of an expert system knowledge base.

Variable amplitude torsion, bending, and combined torsion and bending fatigue tests were performed on an axle shaft. The moment inputs used were taken from the respective history channels of a cable log skidder vehicle axle. Testing results indicated that combined variable amplitude loading lives were shorter than the lives of specimens subjected to bending or torsion alone. Calculations using strain rosette readings indicated that principle strains were most active around specific angles but also occurred with lesser magnitudes through a wider angular range. Over the course of a biaxial test, cyclic creep narrowly limited the angles and magnitudes of the principal strains. This limitation was not observed in the calculated principal stress behavior. Simple life predictions made on the measured strain gage histories were non-conservative in most cases.

Over the past several years a task group within the SAE Automotive Corrosion and Protection (ACAP) Committee has conducted extensive on-vehicle field testing and numerous accelerated lab tests with the goal of establishing a standard accelerated test method for cosmetic corrosion evaluations of finished aluminum auto body panels. This project has been a cooperative effort with OEM, supplier, and consultant participation and was also supported in part by DOE through USAMP (AMD 309). The focus of this project has been the identification of a standardized accelerated cosmetic corrosion test that exhibits the same appearance, severity, and type of corrosion products that are exhibited on identical painted aluminum panels exposed to service relevant environments. Multi-year service relevant exposures were conducted by mounting panels on-vehicles in multiple locations in the US and Canada.

Oscillating heat transfer is a fundamental phenomenon occurring in Stirling machines and IC engines. A group of relevant dimensionless numbers which characterize this problem is identified by dimensional analysis. The convective heat transfer coefficient, or Nusselt number, is a function of the Reynolds number, the Prandtl number, plus the dynamic Reynolds number and the dimensionless amplitude, when compressibility is not considered. The case for compressible fluid is more complicated. An experiential study confirms above analysis and results in a nonlinear longitudinal fluid temperature distribution in the pipe. The history effect is found to affect the heat transfer rate remarkably. A correlation equation for Nusselt number is obtained by multivariate analysis.

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects that higher fluid injection pressures and nozzle geometry have on compound fuel injector nozzle performance. Higher pressures are shown to significantly reduce droplet size, increase the discharge coefficient and reduce the overall size of a nozzle spray. It is also shown that the geometry has a significant effect on nozzle performance, and it can be manipulated to give a desired spray shape.

Improvement of engine fuel efficiency through the use of low friction engine oils is a major task in engine lubrication research. This friction reduction can be achieved by improving the rheological characteristics and elastohydrodynamic (EHD) properties of engine oils, and by controlling boundary chemical interactions between oil-based additives and lubricated components in the engine. In order to achieve minimal frictional power loss under all lubrication regimes, engine tribological systems must be designed to effectively use advanced lubricant technology, material and surface modifications. This paper presents results of cooperative research addressing opportunities for minimizing friction through extension of hydrodynamic lubrication regime in lubricated components using various formulation approaches. A set of experimental oils has been evaluated using laboratory test rigs that simulate hydrodynamic, EHD, mixed and boundary lubrication.

A review of flame kernel growth in SI engines and the regimes of premixed turbulent combustion showed that a misfire model based on regimes of premixed turbulent combustion was warranted[1]. The present study will further validate the misfire model and show that it has captured the dominating physics and avoided extremely complex, yet inefficient, models. Results showed that regimes of turbulent combustion could, indeed, be used for a concept-simple model to predict misfire limits in SI engines. Just as importantly, the entire regimes of premixed turbulent combustion in SI engines were also mapped out with the model.

Magnesium alloy extrusions offer potentially more mass saving compared to magnesium castings. One of the tasks in the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP) ?Magnesium Front End Research and Development? (MFERD) project is to evaluate magnesium extrusion alloys AM30, AZ31 and AZ61 for automotive body applications. Solid and hollow sections were made by lowcost direct extrusion process. Mechanical properties in tension and compression were tested in extrusion, transverse and 45 degree directions. The tensile properties of the extrusion alloys in the extrusion direction are generally higher than those of conventional die cast alloys. However, significant tension-compression asymmetry and plastic anisotropy need to be understood and captured in the component design.

Magnesium alloys are the lightest structural metal and recently attention has been focused on using them for structural automotive components. Fatigue and durability studies are essential in the design of these load-bearing components. In 2006, a large multinational research effort, Magnesium Front End Research & Development (MFERD), was launched involving researchers from Canada, China and the US. The MFERD project is intended to investigate the applicability of Mg alloys as lightweight materials for automotive body structures. The participating institutions in fatigue and durability studies were the University of Waterloo and Ryerson University from Canada, Institute of Metal Research (IMR) from China, and Mississippi State University, Westmorland, General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Group LLC from the United States.

This paper is the first in a series of documents designed to record the progress of the SAE J2293 Task Force as it continues to develop and refine the communication requirements between Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEV) and the Electric Utility Grid. In February, 2008 the SAE Task Force was formed and it started by reviewing the existing SAE J2293 standard, which was originally developed by the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Controls Task Force in the 1990s. This legacy standard identified the communication requirements between the Electric Vehicle (EV) and the EV Supply Equipment (EVSE), including off-board charging systems necessary to transfer DC energy to the vehicle. It was apparent at the first Task Force meeting that the communications requirements between the PEV and utility grid being proposed by industry stakeholders were vastly different in the type of communications and messaging documented in the original standard.