Challenge X Equinox goes 40 miles per charge

Despite general, widespread enthusiasm, several sources in the automotive industry have thrown a lot of cold water on the Volt and non-HSD hybrids and EVs in general. Most prominently, Irv Miller of Toyota went on record describing the kind of batteries that could 1) Fit within a hybrid vehicle architecture and 2) capable of propelling the vehicle for 40+ miles as being “theoretical”.

I already took Irv to task in a prior post. However, here’s some additional evidence for why we can comfortably discount Irv as an authority on anything engineering-related. The Dept. of Energy and GM run an event called Challenge X, where university students are given a Chevy Equinox, some money, and told to go wild on improving the “green-ness” of the vehicle. One of those teams, UC Davis, has taken their Equinox, added a 1.5L Atkinson-cycle engine (pulled from a Prius, admittedly), beefed it up with bigger electric motors at each axle, and fitted some lithium ion batteries.

The result? Well, it’s a plug-in hybrid SUV that’s capable of going 40 miles on a charge!

Sorry, Irv.

Source: LA times.

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