Ohio State University EcoCAR Team

The Ohio State EcoCAR team is using the dSPACE ASM engine and battery models in combination with their own team-programmed hybrid vehicle model to test their vehicle supervisory controller, engine controller and transmission controller on dSPACE's hardware-in-the-loop equipment.

The Ohio State team is programming its own vehicle supervisory controller, engine controller and transmission controller. The vehicle supervisory controller is responsible for determining what mode of operation the vehicle is in (charge depleting mode or charge sustaining mode, for example), and how the driver's torque request is split up between the different powertrain components.

The engine controller is responsible for controlling the engine, and the transmission controller is responsible for shifting gears in the team's manual transmission that they are automating themselves.

The Ohio State team is designing a series-parallel plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that features a 1.8 L E85 engine, two electric machines and a 6-speed automated manual transmission. The vehicle will be capable of operating in charge depleting, charge sustaining series and charge sustaining parallel modes.