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A high concentration of palm oil biodiesel fuel blend is a strong candidate to substitute conventional diesel fuel (B10) due to its prospect to release fewer emissions. This paper shall present findings when testing palm oil biodiesel fuel blends (B10, B20, and B30) at medium speed (2500 rpm) in a single-cylinder Yanmar L70N diesel engine coupled to an eddy current dynamometer. In this study, a timed burette and an airbox determined the engine’s fuel and air consumption, respectively. In contrast, a flue gas analyzer measured the emission released by the fuel blend. The result indicates that as the concentration of palm oil biodiesel increases in the blends (from B10 to B30), there is no significant difference (average less than 5%) between the fuel blends in terms of brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption, and air-fuel ratio. On the other hand, the emission results showed a reduction in CO, CO2, and NOx when the concentration of palm oil biodiesel increases in the blends. Considering the fuel blend would have no significant difference in the engine performance and its ability to reduce most emission, it is safe to conclude that B30 would be a good alternative for current diesel fuel (B10).

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) is a promising technology. However, it suffers from low range characteristics thus increasing the anxiety to prospect customers and hindering its market penetration. To overcome this challenge, a range extender that can generate additional power to charge the battery could be the solution. This brief review article will highlight the prospects and challenges of range extender technology for electric vehicles. A number of automobile manufacturers have launched their Range Extended Electric Vehicles (REEVs) models and the detailed comparison will be given. Several types of range extenders will be discussed, including the internal combustion engine, microturbine, and fuel cell. Lastly, this report will suggest the use of Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) i.e Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine be utilised as range extenders for electric vehicles.

This research aims to design and develop a data monitoring and acquisition system of an onboard and wireless data telemetry system for electric vehicle. The scopes of this research are sensor integrations (6DOF IMU sensor and voltage sensor), creating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for onboard monitoring system, conducting tests on data acquired by systems and connection’s durability testing for the developed systems. The onboard system consists of Arduino Uno, sensors, a serial communication module, LCD display and a memory card which is fitted onto RC car for data recording. The data is transmitted to the wireless system via radio frequency through the serial communication module. The wireless system consisting of Arduino Uno and a serial communication module are connected to a laptop. The data collected from both systems are compared to ensure minimal data losses. It is found that there are no data losses between the data transmitted and received. As an outcome from this research, a telemetry system has been developed to be used on RC cars.

A muffler is a device to attenuate noise from the exhaust. The muffler performance determined by the acoustic performance is called sound transmission loss (STL). This paper aims to measure the STL experimentally and correlated with the 1D simulation result. STL was measured using the impedance tube. Four-pole method (microphone) and two-load method were applied to measure the STL. The STL was also determined through the 1D simulation tools software. Three types of mufflers STL were measured; small expansion chamber, big expansion chamber and complex muffler. The respective error between simulation and experiment were 0.17%, 7.89%, and 11.40%. Hence, the STL experiment result was well correlated with the 1D simulation model.

In this paper a full electric all-terrain vehicle (ATV) owned by the automotive laboratory of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia is converted into a series hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with a range extender. Before the transformation, it is required to predetermine the amount of power that should be used to extend the autonomy of the battery. Experiments are conducted to define the vehicle parameters and characteristics for the development of the simulation model. By using the developed model, simulations are conducted by considering NEDC cycle for a work-commuter who wants to use a vehicle 5 hours per week (30 min one way) without having to charge the battery. It is assumed that the battery is charged at the beginning of the week and must not be discharged under 0.2 state of charge (SOC) for safety reasons. Two control strategies are considered to obtain this objective; the always on engine and the delayed use of the engine. After simulation both controls use the same amount of fuel. As conclusion, the addition of the engine is proven to be effective in prolonging the distance range of the vehicle.