Micro electric vehicle tests at NUS [News]
July 20, 2012 by Eugene Tay
Filed under News
By Today, 20 Jul 2012.
To find out whether it is viable to use micro electric vehicles (EVs) for short-distance travel in Singapore, the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Engineering and Toyota Tsusho Asia Pacific (TTAP) have launched a one-year joint study.
The findings will help to develop a system to enable efficient management of EVs and a self-service EV rental scheme for staff and students to commute on campus.
Using the NUS Kent Ridge campus and the NUS University Town as a test bed, the NUS and TTAP will deploy a fleet of 10 Toyota Auto Body COMS, which are single-seater micro EVs, for the study.
The vehicles provide a driving range of between 35km to 45km through the use of sealed lead-acid batteries. Each vehicle takes eight hours to charge fully and can travel at a top speed of 50kmh.
The study will look at the robustness, performance, cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of EVs in tropical climatic conditions for short distance travel. It will also look at user travelling and charging behaviour to determine how to optimise the distribution of the vehicles and the most efficient location to place charging stations. And it will study the systems needed for future larger scale implementations.
About 160 NUS staff and students are expected to be involved in the study.
Source: Today
