INTRODUCTION

Honda Motor Company, Ltd is a Japanese multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, amongst others. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into with the establishment of GE Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 Honda Jet, scheduled to be released in 2011. Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into R&D. Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Honda is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland. American Honda Motor Co. is based in Torrance, California. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, and is building new corporate headquarters in Markha,Ontario, scheduled to relocate in 2008; their manufacturing division, Honda of Canada Manufacturing, is based in Alliston, Ontario. Honda has also created joint ventures around the world, such as Honda Siel Cars and Hero Honda Motorcycles in India, Guangzhou Honda and in China, and Honda Atlas in Pakistan.

Hybrid electric In late 1999, Honda launched the first commercial hybrid electric car sold in the US market , the , just one month before the introduction of the Toyota Prius, and initially sold for US$20,000. The first-generation Insight was produced from 2000 to 2006 and had a fuel economy of 70 miles per US gallon (3.4 L/100 km; 84 mpg-imp) for the EPA's highway rating, the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car at the time. Total global sales for the Insight amounted to only around 18,000 vehicles. Honda introduced the second-generation Insight in its home nation of Japan in February 2009, with release in other markets to expected through 2009 the U.S. market will receive the new Insight in April 2009. At $19,800 as a five-door hatchback it will be the least expensive hybrid available in the US. Honda expects to sell 200,000 of the vehicles each year, with half of those sales in the . Honda has also been selling since 2002 the Hybrid (2003 model) in the US market, It was followed by the Hybrid, offered in model years 2005 through 2007. Honda is also planning to introduce a hybrid version of its Fit, as well as another unique small hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z sports car concept that it introduced at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

Hybrid Electric Vehicle A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric power train is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle, or better performance. A variety of types of HEV exist, and the degree to which they function as EVs varies as well. The most common form of HEV is the hybrid electric car, although hybrid electric trucks (pickups and tractors) also exist. Modern HEVs make use of efficiency-improving technologies such as regenerative braking, which converts the vehicle's kinetic energy into battery-replenishing electric energy, rather than wasting it as heat energy as conventional brakes do. Some varieties of HEVs use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical generator (this combination is known as a motor-generator), to either recharge their batteries or to directly power the electric drive motors. Many HEVs reduce idle emissions by shutting down the ICE at idle and restarting it when needed; this is known as a start-stop system. A hybrid-electric produces less emissions from its ICE than a comparably-sized gasoline car, as an HEV's gasoline engine is usually smaller than a pure fossil-fuel vehicle, and if not used to directly drive the car, can be geared to run at maximum efficiency, further improving fuel economy. The hybrid-electric vehicle did not become widely available until the release of the Toyota Prius in Japan in 1997, followed by the Honda Insight in 1999. While initially perceived as unnecessary due to the low cost of gasoline, worldwide increases in the price of petroleum caused many automakers to release hybrids in the late 2000s; they are now perceived as a core segment of the automotive market of the future. Worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles produced by Toyota reached 1.0 million vehicles by May 31, 2007, and the 2.0 million mark was reached by August 31, 2009, with hybrids sold in 50 countries. Worldwide sales are led by the Prius, with cumulative sales of 1.43 million by August 2009. The second-generation Honda Insight was the top-selling vehicle in Japan in April 2009, marking the first occasion that an HEV has received the distinction. American automakers have made development of hybrid cars a top priority.

History

In 1901, while employed at Lohner Coach Factory, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Mixte, a 4WD series-hybrid version of "System Lohner-Porsche" electric carriage previously appeared in 1900 Paris Salon. The Mixte included a pair of generators driven by 2.5-hp Daimler IC engines to extend operating range. The Mixte broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. The Mixte used a gasoline engine powering a generator, which in turn powered electric hub motors, with a small battery pack for reliability. It had a range of 50 km, a top speed of 50 km/h and a power of 5.22 kW during 20 minutes. In 1905, H. Piper filed a US patent application for a hybrid vehicle. The 1915 Dual Power, made by the Woods Motor Vehicle electric car maker, had a four- cylinder ICE and an electric motor. Below 15 mph (25 km/h) the electric motor alone drove the vehicle, drawing power from a battery pack, and above this speed the "main" engine cut in to take the car up to its 35 mph (55 km/h) top speed. About 600 were made up to 1918. The first gasoline-electric hybrid car was released by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago in 1917. The hybrid was a commercial failure, proving to be too slow for its price, and too difficult to service. In 1931 Erich Gaichen invented and drove from Altenburg to Berlin a 1/2 horsepower electric car containing features later incorporated into hybrid cars. Its maximum speed was 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), but it was licensed by the Motor Transport Office, taxed by the German Revenue Department and patented by the German Reichs-Patent Amt. The car battery was re-charged by the motor when the car went downhill. Additional power to charge the battery was provided by a cylinder of compressed air which was re-charged by small air pumps activated by vibrations of the chassis and the brakes and by igniting oxyhydrogen gas.

Purpose and Need of Electric Cars

Economic conditions around the world have been very encouraging. Global growth which as 4.8% in 2005 reached 4.9% in 2006 and is expected to hover around this level in the current year also. While the Chinese economy is growing at around 10% without any signs of slow down, the Indian economy is also continuing to grow at more than 8%. In the coming years, I am expecting that the Indian economy will be booming owing to the heavy demand on infrastructure. Energy sector is growing by leaps and bounds as it is receiving the highest attention of both the State Governments and Central Government. India has moved from an argarian economy to a manufacturing economy.

The manufacturing sector now contributes around one-fourth of the total GDP and the industrial output has now crossed USD 65 Billion in value.

Sustainable economic growth of India as well as rest of the world will depend on effective energy planning. Nearly 40% of the world¶s energy comes from petroleum. Natural gas contributes to another 20% and these two natural resources account for 60% of the world¶s energy. The growth in consumption of oil and natural gas in the past has been such that the consumption has been doubling every 15 years. This trend is likely to continue and will lead to complete depletion of natural resources in next 30 years.

It is significant to note that more than 20% of the world¶s total primary energy is consumed in transportation. There are more than 550 million cars currently in the world and in another 20 years the automobile population will reach one billion mark. It is also significant to note that after 1970 the new oil discoveries have been very few and any new discoveries will not make any significant contribution to the world¶s energy pool.

Transportation sector which consumes a large share of energy resource of the country also contributes significantly towards pollution. We at Honda have made our mission to provide vehicles which are emission free, which are inexpensive to acquire and operate. Our launch of battery operated cars has been highly successful and Honda is now developing several new vehicles for the Indian market. Economic and environmental forces are frequently pitted against each other and many a times the financial cost of environmentally friendly technologies and goods is so high that one has to strike a balance or look for Government subsidies. Our Electric Vehicles are unique in this aspect as they are not only economical but also environment friendly.

Objectives of the study

The objectives set for the study are-

- To find out the awareness of consumers about the hybrid cars. - To find out the reasons what people think about hybrid cars. - To find out why people refer to hybrid cars. - To find out the factor influencing the sales of hybrid cars. - To find out the acceptance level of people. - To know that do people really like hybrid cars.

Research Methodology

The success of any event heavily depends upon the way chosen for its execution. This includes ensures of some basic question to the specific focus on constraints as well. In other words they can call the methodology as the backbone of any research. It also includes research or study method. Thus when they talk of methodology they not only talk of methodology they not talk of methods but also consider the logic behind the methods they use in the context of their study objective and explain way use are using them so that study results are capable of being evaluated logically.

Sources of data collection:-

For my survey, primary data has been used as questionnaire to collect the data.

Sample

The sample is the representative unit of population. We are using consumer as sample for this research. The sample is stratified proportionate sample and the sample size is of the research is 30 samples.

Literature Reviews

Title: HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES TECHNOLOGY AND SIMULATION: LITERATURE REVIEW

Accession Number: 00967156

Abstract:

This paper provides a review of the literature on hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technology, engine technology, HEV simulation software, and engine simulation software. HEVs are designed with an on-board energy storage system and a smaller engine than conventional vehicles, which allows the HEVs to achieve better fuel economy and fewer emissions. The integration of diesel engine technology into a HEV configuration shows promise as a way to meet fuel economy and emissions requirements. There are many HEV and diesel engine simulation software packages available for predicting emissions and fuel economy as well as studying the overall performance. The ability to integrate an advanced engine simulation software output and an HEV simulation for the prediction of engine alterations on overall vehicle performance is a critical tool for meeting fuel economy and emission goals.

Authors: Inman, S El-Gindy, M HAWORTH, D C

Publication Date: 2003

Serial: International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems

Volume: 10 Issue Number: 3 Publisher: Inderscience Enterprises Limited ISSN: 1744-232X EISSN: 1741-5152

International Journal of Vehicle Design Issue: Volume 21, Number 1 / 1999 Pages: 89 - 109

Strategic challenges in developing electric vehicles: a literature review

By Stephane Gagnon

Abstract

Within the next 10 years, radical innovations in electric vehicles will cause profound changes in the way automakers develop their products. The prevailing lean product development approach(LPDA), based on concurrent engineering(CE), may well be modified substantially to fit with EV¶S high technology content, high innovation rate and high uncertainity context. In addition, the fact a large part of ev¶s technologies must come from outside the auto industry is another challenge in itself. This literature review leads us to conclude: 1) strategy formulation should be driven by the emergence of a dominant design, 2) we find that organisational change efforts will have to be focused more directly upon the management of knowledge. 3) we finally argue that capabilities development will occur only if a number of adjustments are made to the LPDA, especially regarding suppliers, leaders, people and tools.

Induction Motor Control for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications

Amuliu Bogdan Proca Ali Keyhani

The Ohio State University Electrical Engineering Department Columbus Ohio 43210 Tel: 614-292-4430 Fax: 614-292-7596 [email protected] May, 2001

ABSTRACT:

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) have become an increasing topic of research in recent years. Compared to traditional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) driven automobiles, HEV¶s have the potential to consume less fuel and pollute less. Results go as high as 50 % of the fuel consumption of a conventional vehicle of the same size. A Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is an automobile in which the propulsion comprises both an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and an Electric Motor (EM). The most common type of HEV is the parallel type, in which both ICE and EM are directly connected to the wheels. The ICE is known to have good efficiency at certain operating curves (on a speed-torque diagram) and poor efficiency in the rest. During transients efficiency drops considerably and pollution increases gradually.

When properly controlled, an electric motor can have far better efficiency both in transients and at different operating conditions. Therefore, in a parallel HEV the ICE is kept at steady state and the electric motor is responsible in supplying the difference in torque between the torque command and the torque supplied by the ICE. In a series HEV, the entire torque is produced by the electric motor while the ICE only drives a generator to charge the batteries and supply the EM. The induction motor is the electric propulsion solution of choice for most HEV, since it is relatively low cost, robust and virtually maintenance free.

In high performance applications, the induction motor is controlled through field orientation techniques. Since these techniques require the knowledge of the motor model parameters, a mismatch in parameters is prone to create control errors. It is therefore important to accurately model the induction motor. The induction motor parameters vary with the operating conditions, as is the case with all electric motors. The inductances tend to saturate at high flux levels and the resistances tend to increase as an effect of heating and skin effect. There are other effects that contribute to the parameter variation, which make the dependency between operating conditions and parameters even more complicated. Most of previous research in motor control uses a single set of parameters for all operating condition or uses on-line adaptive procedures for the estimation of only one parameter, namely the rotor resistance. The present research develops a methodology for parameter estimation that can be easily applied on site (the motor does not need to be tested separately); also, the parameters are mapped to the operating conditions. Furthermore, for parameters that vary as a function of unmeasurable quantities (for example, the rotor resistance varies as function of rotor temperature) or that can modify in time due to aging, an on-line parameter estimator is developed.

Field orientation techniques also require knowledge of the rotor speed. Since speed sensors decrease the reliability of a drive system (and increase its price), a common trend in motor control is to eliminate them and use a rotor speed observer to calculate the speed. However, all known speed estimators (open loop, MRAS, Kalman filter, Sliding mode etc) depend on the induction motor model. This work corrected this problem by developing a speed observer that has parameters adapting to operating conditions. All known speed estimation techniques behave poorly at low speed and loading levels. An intelligent controller is developed to correct speed estimation at low speed.