This project is developing a course and a series of 10 laboratory modules that help familiarize students with the technology associated with hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The course builds on prior efforts at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) involving team competitions and summer REU program experiences in the design, building and testing of hybrid vehicles and addresses an important need to enhance the teaching of alternative energy technologies. The project is employing a strategy of first implementing the new course at IIT and then in another institution that does not have a strength in the HEV/PEV area. This laudable strategy is providing an important opportunity to understand how the material transfers to another educational environment.
BROADER SIGNIFICANCE
The course and coupled laboratory modules span the range of technologies required for hybrid vehicle design, development and implementation/function, which have the potential to be shared in full, or in part, with other HEV/PHEV programs across the country. The project is also promoting the involvement of local high schools and community colleges - through outreach efforts that specifically target diverse populations. The involvement of industrial partners is both maximizing the intellectual resources available to students and enhancing their ability to see a direct impact of the hybrid technologies in an industrial setting.
