I'm with Mike Carretta, Associate Professor
of Automotive Technology, and as you can see
we are not behind a desk today. That is a
good thing. I like to get out of the office
once and a while. We are the Guldesky Center's
Automotive Lab, and in a couple of minutes
Mike will be teaching a Hybrid Electric Vehicle
course. And I guess to start off for us mechanical
novices, tell me a little bit about what a
hybrid actually is.
>> A hybrid electric vehicle is a vehicle
that has two means of propelling the car down
the road. It has a internal combustion engine
whether it be a diesel or gasoline engine.
And then it has an electric motor powered
by a battery that can also propel it down
the road.
>> So the students that come here to take
the HEV - Hybrid Electric Vehicle course - what
types of folks are you seeing here? You're
not talking about just the person like me
that doesn't know much about cars that's going
to come in here and take the course. Who's
in your class tonight?
>> We're getting people who are out in the
industry working on the vehicles currently.
We're getting a lot of people that work on
fleet vehicles that have these in their fleet.
County - we've got some DC Public Work students
coming in today and from other county organizations
that have them in their fleet. And these technicians
need to learn how to work on them. Because
even though they still have an internal combustion
engine, they are still quite different than
just a typical car. And they need to know
the differences between those.
>> Okay. So they are in a sense mechanics.
>> Correct.
>> Talk a little bit about - we are discussing
earlier off camera about the progression.
You said you were working in high school in
'87 you were work on cars.
>> Yeah. Right.
>> Talk a little bit about the progression
and actually where the vehicle world stands
today.
>> Well, when I started working on cars in
1987, you know, fuel injection was still kind
of in its infancy and, you know, we were just
kind of getting into the electronics, moving
away from carburetors into fuel injection.
So it was kind of a little bit easier back
then. Maybe had one or two computers that
had to manager all the, you know, electronics
on the car. Where nowadays you can have 5
to 25 computers on a car managing, you know,
all the systems on the car nowadays. Trans
controllers, body controllers, engine controllers,
you know. You know, memory seat heater controllers
that control the seats, the power seats, and
the mirrors and the windows that tie all that
stuff together. So, they're very complicated
nowadays.
>> And there is - you were telling me again
a little bit off camera. There's a difference
between the hybrid electric vehicle. And then
there's another car behind me. Tell us a little
bit about the intricate difference between
these vehicles that you guys are going to
be working on in a little while.
>> Right. Well the hybrid electric vehicle,
like I said, has the two means of propelling
it. Either battery operated or by the internal
combustion engine and a pure electric vehicle
like the Nissan LEAF that we have right here
behind you is strictly electric. So you'd
have to plug it in.
>> Literally plug it in?
>> Yeah. You literally plug it in usually
when you get home. If they have a plug-in
station maybe somewhere where you work. May
be they have something like that. So that's
the main differences. A pure electric vehicle
just has one means of propelling the car down
the road where the hybrid have two. So when
the battery gets low in your Prius, then the
internal combustion engine will kick on and
can drive the car down the road and, you know,
recharge the battery while it's driving or
while it's breaking.
>> Okay. And the course itself it's not - this
is a short course. And just tell us about
how long the course is and what you're going
to kind of receive when you finish the course.
>> Right. We do it over the course of three
consecutive evenings. Well, three weeks. We
do it on Mondays. So we do one Monday and
then, you know, two after that. And it's four
hours each so it's 12 hours total. And this
is just a very basic class. I mean we kind
of just scratch the surface onto what these
vehicles are about. And it's just like I said.
Just kind of pointing out the difference between
a hybrid and a regular car. I mean, you know,
for example, on this hybrid here, you know,
if you're sitting in a traffic light the engine
will cut off. Well, if it's the summer time
and it's 100 degrees outside where am I going
to get an air conditioning [background discussion]
from? Right?
>> Right.
>> So the AC compressor also has to be driven
electrically. And the other thing is electric
power steering and just electric water pumps.
So there are some differences between the
two, and that's kind of what we go over in
the class. And then we have a hybrid transmission
we take apart so the students can take a look
at the electric motors that are inside of
it. And then on our final day we go over battery
safety, and just, you know, working on these
things because it's high voltage here. Three
hundred volts--
>> Wow.
>> --if it hits you right, it can kill you.
>> Okay.
>> So we go over safety with them. And then
we have them take them out in the parking
lot. And we hook scan tools up to them and
let them drive them around so we can see what
the motor gear one is doing. Motor gear two
is doing and things like that. So they kind
of understand, you know, where the power flow
is coming from. Is it coming from the engine?
Is it coming from one of the motors? Is it
recharging? You know, what's taking place
inside of there? And we can look at that with
our scan tools that we have here at the school.
>> And when you're done with the 12 hours
you get a Workforce Development and Continuing
Education Certificate.
>> Correct.
>> And a lot of folks are actually doing that
from the public sector.
>> Hmhm.
>> And doing it for their jobs to get that
certificate. So I think that's about all the
time we have today, Mike. I want to thank
you--
>> No problem.
>> --for letting us some in here into this
good garage and getting me away from my desk
[laughter]. So I appreciate that. For "Campus
Conversations," I'm Marcus Rosano.
^M00:15:15
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