Ohio State researchers think they have found a way to reduce fuel costs. SMART@CAR is a new project being proposed and developed by professionals at the Ohio State Center for Automotive Research. SMART@CAR is an acronym for Sustainable Mobility: Advanced Research Team at the Center for Automotive Research. An introductory meeting was held Oct. 23 by OSU researchers, automotive partners and electric companies who are trying to improve and market a plug-in hybrid car that is electricity-efficient.

Giorgio Rizzoni, a professor of mechanical and electrical engineering and the director of the Center for Automotive Research, said that because of the high costs, we might need to replace petroleum as the main source of car fuel. Biofuels and hydrogen present many challenges. For example, hydrogen is hard to generate, store and distribute. Today’s technology is not advanced enough for either of those options.

Electricity, however, is more accessible.

Running cars on battery power might seem like an obvious option. However, batteries alone are not practical because they require many hours to recharge and are expensive. Driving distance is limited in electric-only cars – driving 300 to 400 miles using electricity would require a very large battery.

Rizzoni proposes a car with the best of both worlds – a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). He said a PHEV is a compromise because it runs on both electricity and gasoline. This is convenient because we have the technology to make a program such as SMART@CAR possible.

There are currently hybrids on the market that run on gasoline and are equipped with a larger-than-normal size battery to preserve some of the fuel used daily. Plug-in hybrids are different because they are equipped with a larger battery and also an outlet on the back of the car where it could be recharged at any electrical outlet.

The “smart” in “SMART@CAR” also refers to an intelligent device, similar to the technology of a smart phone, that would indicate the best time to charge the vehicle, preventing power plants from experiencing electrical overloads.

Vincenzo Marano, a post-doctorate research fellow at the Center for Automotive Research, said the SMART@CAR consortium has more than 10 research partners and sponsors such as American Electric Power, Buckeye Power and the OSU College of Engineering.

“We have to start looking for different and better ways to reduce the consumption of petroleum,” Marano said. “What the SMART@CAR program is trying to do is be the connection bridge between electrical utilities and automotive industries.”

He said the main drawback of plug-in vehicles right now is the cost. The larger battery is more expensive and the overall cost for a PHEV will be more than that of a standard vehicle. A car battery will age as any battery, although its life span, according to studies, can last up to 10 years.

The SMART@CAR team hopes to one day see electrical outlets all over the OSU campus, allowing PHEV owners to charge their cars during the day. For more information visit www.car.osu.edu.

D’Andea Kinley can be reached at [email protected].