Xebra Electric-Hydraulic Vehicle Redesign for Accessibility and Maintainability

Abstract

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is developing a hydraulic hybrid car by retrofitting a Xebra® electric car. The vehicle uses electricity as its primary power source and is capable of utilizing a regenerative braking system that can store kinetic energy usually lost during braking in the form of pressurized hydraulic fluid. This hydraulic regenerative braking system has been proven to improve the efficiency of conventional (electric) regenerative braking by up to 40%. Previous ME 450 teams were able to improve the performance of the car but the disjointedness of these projects increased the system’s complexity. The sponsor requirements for our team were to improve the maintainability, serviceability and simplicity of the vehicle while maintaining the vehicle’s performance.