Beginning Thursday, January 22nd, the IMR shuttle service will be using a new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to transport OSU researchers to West Campus research facilities.
The new IMR shuttle van is one of two 12-passenger vans acquired by the OSU/Honda Partnership through a collaborative research effort with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and VIA Motors. The College of Engineering coordinated the purchase of the vans that have been converted to plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) formats through the EPRI Plug-in Hybrid Medium-Duty Truck Demonstration and Evaluation Program.
The vehicles are extended-range electric vans, which drive the first 35 miles in all-electric mode with near zero emissions, and have a full range of 400 miles on a single fill-up. The vans average over 100 mpg in typical local daily driving, allowing IMR to realize considerable savings while continuing to run its normal shuttle schedule, at the same time practicing the “green” sustainability approach to which many of its researchers have devoted their efforts.
While the IMR shuttle transports passengers to research facilities, the new vehicle itself will be part of a research project. The vans are equipped with data collection devices which automatically send data related to driving vehicle and efficiency to EPRI, which in turn uses this data to recommend modifications to their PHEV converted vehicles in the future.
For more information about the IMR shuttle service, including its daily schedule and route, visit http://imr.osu.edu/resources/imr-shuttle/