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Nowadays, more than 50% of the fuel energy is lost in CNG Engines. While efforts to increase their efficiency have been focused mainly on the improvement of the combustion process, the combustion chamber and the reduction of friction losses, heat losses still remain the most important inefficient factor. A global strategy in which several energy recovery strategies are implemented could lead to engine improvements up to 15%. Therefore, the development of accurate models to size and predict the performance of the integrated components as well as to define an optimized control strategy is crucial. In this contribution, a model to analyze the potential of a new powertrain based on the electrification of the main auxiliaries, the integration of a kinetic energy recovery system and the exhaust gases heat recovery through a thermoelectric generator and a turbo-component is presented.

The heating and cooling systems are an important issue in the development of fully electric vehicles (FEVs). On the contrary to vehicles with thermal engines, in FEVs there is almost no waste heat available for the heating of the cabin or for the window de-icing and defogging. The cooling of the cabin also demands a large amount of energy. Due to the high power consumption, the heating and cooling of FEVs is a compromise between thermal comfort and vehicle range. The aim of this work is to present the European project ICE (2010-2014) [1] which focuses on the development of an efficient air-conditioning and heating system based on a magneto-caloric heat pump and on a new system architecture to fulfill the thermal comfort requirements of an electric minibus. The system will be installed and demonstrated in a Daily Electric Mini-bus from IVECO-ALTRA.