For release: Date, 2012
News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu
Second contact:
Name Name, 615-xxx-xxxx or Name.Name@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — This
could be big — and, overnight, it has become huge for MTSU engineering
technology professor Dr. Charles Perry.
Television journalist Bill Weir and the ABC News/Yahoo!
“This Could Be Big” online collaboration has rocketed Perry’s plug-in hybrid
retrofit kit motor project into another orbit of interest.
The “This Could Be Big” posting Sept. 6 on the site (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/)
has generated more than 1,260 comments (and counting) from online viewers.
Perry
and a student-centered five-member team saw gas mileage increase anywhere from
50 to 100 percent on a 1994 Honda station wagon that has been retrofitted with
laboratory prototype plug-in hybrid capability.
As
a research vehicle, the Honda has been fitted with electric motors in each rear
wheel and a large lithium ion battery, which is mounted in the rear of the
vehicle. As lithium battery technology improves, the battery size will be
reduced in production models, said Perry, who hopes it will cost $3,000 when
it’s eventually mass produced.
“This is just amazing,” Perry said of the buzz created by the Yahoo! video and
mid-July news release through Newswise, a source to reach U.S. and foreign
journalists . “Everybody loves the idea. Everybody wants it.”
To
view Perry explaining the wheel-hub motor process, visit http://avs.mtsu.edu/video/plug-hybrid-retrofit-kit-revised, which
has had more than 90,000 YouTube hits.
Emails have been pouring in from around the world.
“I don’t know how many I’ve had,” Perry said. “(They’ve come
from) India, Sri Lanka, Syria and all over the country.”
Perry also has been busy on the phone.
The Yahoo! video generated a phone call from Cheryl Hanson
of Prior Lake, Minn., 25 miles south of Minneapolis. She called on behalf of
her husband, Mark, who has been a mechanic for 30 years.
“The economy’s been such that we’re building our own
business now,” Cheryl Hanson said “You guys are doing great things. We saw the
video and are super excited. It seems like a good fit and skill set for what
we’re wanting to do.”
Perry, who serves as the Russell Chair of Manufacturing
Excellence, was interviewed by Weir on Tuesday via Skype in the
Telecommunications Building. Weir is co-anchor of ABC’s “Nightline.”
A July 23 MTSU story submission to Newswise has generated
1,562 hits to date.
“I just don’t know where this is going to go,” said Perry,
who has been working with Lou Svendsen, Tennessee Board of Regents university
counsel, in approaching companies that have both U.S. and worldwide fleets of
vehicles, especially those “interested in green technology, reducing the carbon
footprint and savings in fuel costs.”
Perry had 40 patents in a 28-year career with IBM before
coming to MTSU. He and his student-centered team have landed two U.S. patents
for this project and awaiting final approval on two more.
###
Attached are a
high-resolution jpeg photo of Dr. Charles Perry and a photo of graduate student
Jay Perry with the wheel-hub motor plug-in hybrid retrofit kit. (Charles and
Jay Perry and not related.)
Charles Perry.jpg
photo caption
Charles Perry
Jay Perry.jpg photo
caption
MTSU graduate student
Jay Perry is shown with the plug-in hybrid retrofit kit. The 1994 Honda has been fitted with electric motors in each rear
wheel and a large lithium ion battery, which is mounted in the rear of the
vehicle (Photo by MTSU’s Andy Heidt)
The Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching has recognized MTSU for its outstanding curricular
engagement, community outreach and partnerships. As MTSU continues its
second century of service, Pride, Tradition and Excellence remain the
cornerstones of "Tennessee’s Best"! For MTSU news and information any
time, visit www.mtsunews.com.
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For
MTSU news and information any time, visit www.mtsunews.com.
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