Hello,

I need some help with my Senior Design Project. I need some feedback from hybrid cars drivers. Your help is much appreciated.


Here are my questions:

How is the driving experience like?

Do you have problems with pedestrians/bicyclists not noticing your vehicle approaching? Why do you think so? Where does this happen?

Wonderful! The lack of noise and vibration means I have the comfort of a larger, more expensive vehicle, with fuel efficiency that can not be equaled by most gasoline vehicles. I typically can drive 700+ miles in one day and arrive tired but not 'beat up.' Long distance driving is no longer exhausting.

Pedestrians - no more than normal. If their heads are looking around, just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advocates in their safety literature, there is no problem. The only problem areas are in parking lots where too many pedestrians often have iPods and cell phones or a distracting crowd of small children needing attention.

Bicyclists are traveling too fast to hear anything. You might try riding one with a helmet. You'll soon discover that at speeds needed to keep the bike upright and stable there is enough 'wind noise' around your ears that only the loudest vehicles can be heard and only when you are already close. To ride a bicycle, you MUST use your eyes and know that you are INVISIBLE.

I drive a hybrid and I know it is NOT SO! It does not happen and we have the accident data shows this is the case:

• Prius has the same fatal accident rate as other vehicles (Christopher Hogan report)
• NHTSA does not consider hybrid-pedestrian accident fatalities to be worthy of looking at because the speeds are unlikely to cause a fatality (Freedom of Information Act meeting September 24.)

In June 23, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a meeting in Washington DC to discuss this nonsense. The public record is available:

www.regulations.gov - search NHTSA-2008-0108-0020

Although denied a place in the program, I attended the hearing and like any member of the public, made my critical comments in the transcript:

www.regulations.gov - search NHTSA-2008-0108-0023

You can read the full record by searching for NHTSA-2008-0108 from that web site. Now for some more recent facts and data.

In 2008, the California legislature passed SB 1174, an exact copy of the pending legislation in the US House of Representatives, HR 5734. On September 30, the Governor vetoed this legislation. Please use Google to read his exact message (you will need it for your footnote and bibliography.)

The House bill HR 5734, we call "Bell the Hybrid," never had a Senate equivalent. With Congress out on recess until after the November election, this bill will die with this Congress unless something remarkable happens. However, I've done a lot of grassroots organizing to make sure this legislation dies with this congress and have plans to nail the coffin lid after the November election.

I am one of the principle opponents of this legislation. Please check your instructor to find out if you can interview a principle and then get back with me. Send me a PM and we can coordinate an interview phone call. Note, I ask that you read the Dr. Christopher Hogan and the Augustus Chidester reports. To maximize the value of a phone interview, read all of the materials from the June 23 hearing.

You have a chance of getting an "A" on this paper because I am one of the principles. You may have to ask your instructor for some relief on the page or word count limit. I doubt if you can fully cover it in less than 1,000 words. Heck, I've probably written nearly 250 words in just this reply.

Bob Wilson

ps. What school is associated with the "Nevada Power Company?" I notice your posting IP address is not a normal .edu domain expected from a student.

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Thank you for the useful information. I am attending UNLV under Mechanical Engineering and I am an intern at NV Energy. UNLV and NV Energy are not in conjuction, I simply posted using my work computer. We are currently doing a Senior Design Project that deals with an electric car alert for pedestrians/bicyclists. We are early on in the project and wish to find out what the best ways of alerting pedestrians are. I am working with 3 other students. I did not expect to find someone as resourceful and helpful as you. I will be sure to read all the information you have given me and look forward to speak with you again. Thanks.

Hi,

Good deal! I have a special fondness for mechanical engineering, what I studied in college:
Please do not read anything into my somewhat gruff style. I'm used to getting things done and sometimes forget to be as civil as I should be:

What is your schedule?

Have you committed to a technical approach that can not be changed?

What are your deliverables?

The reason I ask is there was a bill passed in Congress, HR 1216 and S 694, that has been signed into law that deals with pedestrian safety, back over accidents:

http://www.kidsandcars.org/

I have started work on a keyfob safety system that can be used for both kids, the blind, and other special needs pedestrians:

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_fob.html

If you would consider adopting this technical approach, I would be happy to 'mentor' (MUST GET INSTRUCTOR APPROVAL!!!) your team. Understand, I would want product by January 2009 and am willing to provide:

1. specifications - what the product must do
2. materials - transceiver board, software and sample keyfobs
3. additional materials as needed in qualify the design documents (MUST COMPLY WITH INSTRUCTOR AND BEST COMMERCIAL PRACTICES)

Please research and discuss this with your collaborators AND THE INSTRUCTOR! I would be willing to participate in a conference call and draft as set of terms and conditions to cover our join work on this project.

BACKGROUND

My out of date resume, send a PM for current contact information. I am a senior network engineer supporting the enterprise and wide area network working for a contractor to a government agency.

I have mentored two summer interns for each of the past two years and one the year before. The two interns from this year are now part-time employees as they complete their senior year. They continue to report to me and continue their engineering studies.

I have a small company incorporated in Alabama that can be used to support follow-up activities of this project. This provides a mechanism, 'cover,' so your team has a chance for not only relevant work recognition but any follow-up that might come from the project.

WARNING

Engineering is fun ... and good engineering becomes an obsession. If you are just after credit and a grade, you may not want to work with me. But if your work load is relatively light, this can be about as much fun as you can have outside of bed. The time commitment can not be understated.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

The phrasing of your final question shows that you are assuming assuming the answer to "do we have problems..." is affirmative. If you're researching something, you are most likely testing a specific hypothesis and probably have an expectation but it is important when asking questions to not "lead" people to the answers you expect.

Yes, my car is quiet. When in a parking lot, it is normally operating in what we here call "stealth" mode (battery only). But when I drive my wife's minivan I also have problems with pedestrians/byciclists not noticing it approaching and it's much bigger and somewhat louder.

Any vehicle in proper running condition (including the exhaust) can be quiet enough to sneak up on people when they're too wrapped up in their own little world and walk down the middle of the aisles in the parking lot paying no attention to ANY vehicles around them whether it's a hybrid, minivan, or Humvee.

(It's actually an '09!)