My main project at work right now is called ChargeCar. We are collecting real commute data from around the country. We will be using this data to create an intelligently controlled electric car using a hybrid battery-supercapacitor system. If you would like to learn more, please visit the website. ChargeCar.org

The first thing I did for this project was build a couple scan tools.

My first one was designed to go in the rav4ev of my boss. In the car is a palm pilot that displays the cars vitals like voltage, current, state of charge, temperatures, etc. Using a y-cable, the scan tool sniffs the communication with the palm pilot and the car. The scan tool also has an input for a GPS. Every two seconds the GPS spits out NMEA sentences over a serial line.

The scan tool simply parses the GPS data for the time, latitude, longitude, and barometric altitude data. It then parses the palm pilot data for the voltage and current of the car. All of that data it then recorded on a USB stick. Later, the user can upload the file to our website and see power profiles for their commute, and see how a hybrid battery-supercapacitor system would benefit their drive.

My first design was a handmade board and used an sx-28 microcontroller. It worked well, and we were interested in sending ten of these across the country, so I designed a professional board using an sx-48. The picture below was the first professional board that I populated my hand. I will update the picture once the professionally populated ones come in.

Here is a picture of the professional board we are currently sending across the world to collect data from Rav4EV users.