(April 21, 2015) Plug-in
hybrids have low fuel consumption, but require more costly parts than cars with
a regular combustion engine. During development, the optimal cost balance must
be calculated, which has been extremely time consuming to date. Now researchers
at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a new method that
dramatically reduces the time needed for these calculations.
Plug-in hybrids are more fuel efficient thanks to the
combination of electric motor and battery. However, the higher number of components
the higher the manufacturing costs.