Levin Welcomes Michigan Tech’s Mobile Hybrid Electric Vehicle Lab to Capitol Hill
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., welcomed Michigan Tech’s Mobile Hybrid Electric Vehicle Lab to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, praising the mobile lab as a test bed on wheels for innovations that will drive the future of green vehicle technologies.
“Having a hands-on, mobile showcase for these technologies will help people around the country understand how academia, industry and government are working together to create the vehicle technologies of the future,” Levin said. “It’s especially important to bring the Mobile Lab to Washington so that my colleagues and other government officials can see these exciting developments up close. And the lab is an important tool to help students learn about these new technologies and build interest in science, math, and engineering careers.”
Michigan Tech professors and students briefed officials from the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the White House at the lab’s Capitol Hill visit on Tuesday morning.
The Mobile HEV Lab is a 53-foot-long trailer packed with a variety of technologies showing how electricity is becoming increasingly important in vehicles of all kinds. It showcases the Houghton, Mich., university’s hybrid vehicle engineering program.
MTU constructed the lab using a $3 million Department of Energy grant funded through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Michigan Tech’s partners include Argonne National Laboratory, General Motors, Eaton, MathWorks, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, and Woodward. Companies contributing vehicles and equipment include Detroit Diesel, Kohler and GM.
On Saturday and Sunday, the lab will be on display at the USA Science & Engineering Festival in the Washington Convention Center, where the public will be able to check out the hands-on displays of hybrid electric technologies. Visitors to the lab can ride a specialized stationary bike that generates electric power, and see the inner workings of an internal combustion engine with see-through quartz cylinders that allow observers to see the movement on pistons and the flames of combustion. The lab also includes two complete vehicle powertrain test cells, lab stations for building and conducting experiments and classroom space and equipment for educational lectures and demonstrations.