team then constructed a plug-in series hybrid electric vehicle. The batteries on-board were refilled using a biodiesel generator; conversely, it could be plugged into any typical wall socket found in homes. The team also built a solar energy filling station on campus consisting of six 180-watt panels that allowed recharging the car batteries in half a day while it is parked. Cars typically reached 40 mph around campus while the fuel economy was increased to 80 mpge due to solar refilling. The team uses combinations of different fuel sources each year. On a much smaller scale the Ecohawks group researched advanced technologies in the small scale including NiMH, LiCoO2, LiFePO4 batteries. The utilized scaled down RC Cars for testing and validation. Research also conceptualized a parallel hybrid design that utilized a small internal combustion engine running on the a planned biodiesel blend and a brushless electric motor allowing for the doubling of torque. Research with ECM, hydrogen fuel cells and Metal hydride storage tanks led to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) grant that wanted to see the group design an infrastructure with Smart grid technologies. The initiatives were supported by National Instruments Community programs The groups designs were adopted by the university when the KU Libraries started using vehicles that were converted by the ecohawks. The KU Libraries mail vehicle traveled about 22 miles on average on a given day. The electric vehicle would travels 80 to 90 miles before a recharge. The library car was a Chevrolet K5 Blazer, while the neighborhood EV was a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle In an article by Wired magazine it was estimated that profits, both financial and societal was possible if the ecohawks project was replicated on a larger scale The ecohawks also proposed a plan to take the vehicles completely off grid. They installed six monocrystalline solar cells on their workspace and charged the cars from it, with no energy taken from the grid. Their workspace does not have an HVAC system, but uses biodiesel space heater. In addition, all small appliances are powered by solar energy. Later the group formulated a plan to make money from selling excess energy generated from the integrated renewable energy systems and optimizing the uses through a smart grid technology, i.e. the car would be a power plant by itself. Considering a finite range for an electric vehicle, and estimating that only a fraction