This study evaluated the development, student profile, academic staffing structure, and educational quality of HEVT programs in Türkiye between 2019 and 2025. Vehicle sales in Türkiye reached 1.37 million units in 2025, with hybrid and electric vehicles accounting for 27.2% and 17.7% of the market, respectively, continuing their upward market trend. Furthermore, the domestic production of these vehicles in Türkiye creates a demand for qualified technical personnel in after-sales service, maintenance, and repair sectors. To meet this demand, Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technology (HEVT) programs have expanded rapidly since 2019, reaching 20 programs with a capacity of 867 students by 2025. However, this rapid growth has raised concerns about educational quality. In this study, the quality of education offered in HEVT programs has been investigated based on student profiles as well as the number and qualifications of academic staff. The findings reveal that rapid program expansion has coincided with declining student achievement rankings and lower enrollment rates in some private universities. Moreover, some institutions do not meet the minimum academic staffing requirements and employ faculty with limited or no field relevance. Finally, a vocational competency-based HEVT curriculum was developed in accordance with the criteria of the Vocational Education Evaluation and Accreditation Association, emphasizing a balanced integration of theory and practice, elective course diversity, and compulsory internships to support professional readiness.
Granular dampers are utilised to control vibration in a wide range of industries, including automotive, aerospace, machine tool and civil engineering applications, where their robustness, tolerance of harsh environments and freedom from maintenance make them attractive where conventional damping treatments cannot be used. The energy dissipation of a granular damper is governed by the collective motion of the particles, which is normally predicted using discrete element simulations that are computationally demanding. This paper examines how far this collective motion can be described by a simple kinematic model in which the granular medium is treated as a single rigid body that detaches from the enclosure, travels freely under gravity, and collides inelastically with the enclosure ends. Conditions are obtained for the detachment and re-contact instants and for the excitation amplitudes at which the collective collisions are most effective. The predictions are compared with previously reported discrete element simulations and measurements of the dissipated power of a cylindrical damper excited at different frequencies. The model reproduces the simulated collective velocity histories and locates both optimum amplitudes with acceptable accuracy. The simple models fail in the intermediate amplitude range, where the collective motion extends over several excitation periods, and at high frequencies, where the compliance of the medium becomes important. Within these limits, the model can support the early sizing of dampers for practical applications at a small fraction of the computational cost of the simulations.
This study presents the development of a CAN Bus-based mobile vehicle telemetry, data logging, and driver behavior analysis system. The proposed system acquires vehicle data from the engine control unit through a CANable interface and transfers the data to an Android-based mobile application. The application parses incoming SLCAN frames, processes UDS-based diagnostic responses, converts raw CAN data into physical engineering values, and displays selected telemetry parameters in real time. During field tests performed on a Seat Ibiza 1.6 TDI vehicle, parameters such as engine speed, vehicle speed, accelerator pedal position, intake pressure, engine load, coolant temperature, engine oil temperature, exhaust gas temperature, and selected gear were monitored and recorded. The acquired data were stored in CSV format with timestamp, parameter name, raw hexadecimal data, and scaled physical value fields. The recorded logs were then analyzed in MATLAB using the Trip Evaluation V5 algorithm. This algorithm separates signals according to parameter names, synchronizes them on a common time base, calculates driving-related metrics, and evaluates driver behavior under three categories: Driving Efficiency, Mechanical Sympathy, and Thermal Load Control. These sub-scores are combined using weighted coefficients to obtain a final trip evaluation score. The results show that the developed prototype can acquire real vehicle data, display live telemetry, record structured log files, and convert the collected data into an engineering-based driver behavior evaluation. The system provides a low-cost and expandable architecture for vehicle telemetry, post-drive analysis, and future connected vehicle applications.
In a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), regenerative braking converts part of the vehicle’s kinetic energy into electricity that is stored and later reused, displacing fuel. This recovered energy is effectively free, because its only alternative is dissipation as heat in the friction brakes; however, the extra charge throughput and the high charge-rate (C-rate) pulses associated with braking accelerate battery aging, which carries a replacement cost. This paper presents a transparent, parameterized methodology that evaluates the net economic value of regenerative braking as the difference between two opposing cash flows: the monetized value of the recovered energy and the levelized cost of the accelerated battery degradation it causes. The benefit branch is built from the powertrain round-trip efficiency chain and an equivalent-fuel valuation; the cost branch from a power-law capacity-fade model and a levelized degradation cost, cdeg = cpack/NEFC. The two branches are unified in marginal-value and net-present-value (NPV) terms and examined with tornado and Monte-Carlo analyses. A case study is developed for a representative C-segment full hybrid under Turkish conditions at a gasoline price of 1.40 USD/L. The braking-energy input is validated against urban and extra-urban driving-cycle simulations that bracket the adopted value (0.028-0.058 kWh/km). For 15,000 km/yr the model recovers about 233 kWh/yr of usable traction energy, saving roughly 87 L of gasoline (≈ 121 USD) per year against a degradation cost of only ≈ 11 USD/yr, a benefit-to-cost ratio near 11:1. For a realistic 15-year service life (≈ Turkish fleet average) the discounted lifetime NPV is ≈ 840 USD per vehicle; longer horizons add little because of discounting. A Monte-Carlo analysis returns a positive NPV in essentially 100% of cases. The net value is robustly positive, narrowing only to extreme C-rates, high cell temperatures, or with expensive chemistries.
The current research aims to determine the influence of thermoplastic overmolding on the impact response of aluminum alloys. The objective of the study is to improve the impact response of lightweight automotive components. The paper assesses the influence of adding polypropylene (PP) to aluminum alloy on the redistribution of stress and strain and energy absorption during impact loads. To achieve the objective, FEM simulation of an open box model made up of aluminum alloy and PP with overall thickness of 2 mm was done using ANSYS. In addition, the impact load of 10 m/s was simulated on the box. The results show that there is a significant reduction in the peak von Mises stress from 72 MPa in monolithic aluminum alloy to 52 MPa when the aluminum alloy is overmolded with PP. This is an indication of improvement in stress redistribution in the material. On the other hand, energy absorption improves when there is an overmolded polymer in the material since the impact load is absorbed better. However, the amount of deformation increases owing to the higher ductility of the polymer. Based on thickness comparison, 1 mm aluminum alloy with 1 mm polymer overmolding yields the best results in terms of stress reduction and deformation control.
