Road Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) optimised user-centric solutions for energy efficiency design and consistent range throughout weather conditions (2ZERO Partnership)

Expected Outcome:Project results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:

• Validated set of user requirements and usage acceptance limits, e. g. acceptable range loss for cabin climatisation, for different vehicle user groups (e. g. age, income, gender, location, regular usage models) in consideration of driving habits under various weather conditions as a basis for system development;
• Innovative and affordable Light Duty Vehicles (LDV) / Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) energy management solutions demonstrated with a prototypical system (e. g. mock-up vehicle) in relevant environment and compared with State of the Art. Solutions should be cost effectively fulfilling and balancing user needs (from comfort and air quality aspects such as temperatures, humidity, CO2, to driving range) under extreme weather conditions (-15°C to at least +40°C, aiming to +45°C);
• User and use case specific vehicle range loss (due to climatisation needs) at extreme ambient conditions will be reduced to user acceptance limits. Compared to State of the Art for an affordable system design, the range loss from normal operating conditions (e.g., 10 to 20 °C) to extreme ambient conditions will be reduced by at least 30% without increasing system cost (e.g. energy, battery and thermal management);
• Optimal energy management including integration of future smart cities standards (e.g., speed control, environmental forecasting, swarm information, smart energy management, grid peak load periods) resulting in 10% improvement of energy demand for the thermal system and the powertrain.

Scope:Preserving the benefits of right-sized batteries in terms of road BEV affordability, material resource and energy savings while reducing the impact of occasional extreme weather conditions on driving range for both LDV and LCV, especially during longer trips, calls for novel systemic approaches on thermal management. Finding solutions which adequately balance user needs, technical effort and vehicle affordability requires user research (e. g. user acceptance, preferences, and usage scenarios for the vehicles) to set relevant goals and criteria for innovation in the field of thermal management systems and technologies.

Automotive standards (e.g. ISO 7730, ISO 14505-4) should be met, keeping in mind that extreme weather conditions are a critical challenge and should be tackled not only with innovative or improved components, but especially with novel, user-centric and intelligent solutions based on an overall vehicle system approach (can include interface to infrastructure) to minimise energy and simplify thermal systems and which do not lead to increased system or vehicle cost.

Proposals are expected to address all the following aspects:

• Analyse user requirements to identify personalised thresholds of thermal comfort and their different expectations and behaviours, sensitivities, tolerances, and acceptance with regard to various use cases;
• Establish a holistic approach to optimising energy efficiency and relevant thermal functions (system-oriented and simplified solutions based on usage scenarios and inclusion of external data to use energy optimally and avoid oversizing that could also result from cascading engineering safety margins);
• Explore and exploit the potential that connection to the grid offers without overloading the grid especially during extreme weather conditions;
• Develop innovative, safe and intelligent solutions that reduce the loss of range within acceptable limits also addressing the balance of costs, usage models and system complexity when considering extreme weather conditions while meeting automotive standards under normal use;
• Develop innovative vehicle energy management solutions for seldom extreme weather conditions also using predictive energy management, e.g., AI-based functions and intelligent management of auxiliaries, in order to fulfil user preferences and tolerances;
• All developed solutions and concepts must be integrated in a prototype or mock-up vehicle and demonstrated on system level in a relevant environment.

The project(s) should take account Open Science, its practices and learning, and the project’s results will be enacted in line with FAIR principles for data[1].

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

[1] Final Report and Action Plan from the European Commission Expert Group on FAIR Data, “TURNING FAIR INTO REALITY” - https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7769a148-f1f6-11e8-9982-01aa75ed71a1/language-en