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E-mobility is a game changer for the automotive domain. It promises significant reduction in terms of complexity and in terms of local emissions. With falling prices and recent technological advances, the second generation of electric vehicles (EVs) that is now in production makes electromobility an affordable and viable option for more and more transport mission (people, freight). Current e-vehicle platforms still present architectural similarities with respect to combustion engine vehicle (e.g., centralized motor). Target of the European project EVC1000 is to introduce corner solutions with in-wheel motors supported by electrified chassis components (brake-by-wire, active suspension) and advanced control strategies for full potential exploitation. Especially, it is expected that this solution will provide more architectural freedom toward “design-for-purpose” vehicles built for dedicated usage models, further providing higher performances.

The design of suspension systems for heavy-duty vehicles covers a specific field of automotive industry. The proposed work focuses on the design development of a front controllable suspension for an agricultural tractor capable to satisfy the system requirements under different operating conditions. The design of the control algorithms is based on the developed multibody model of the actual tractor, including the pitch motion of the sprung mass, the anti-dive effects during braking and forward-reverse maneuvers and the non-linear dynamics of the actuation system. For an advanced analysis, a novel thermo-hydraulic model of the hydraulic system has been implemented. Several semi-active damping controls are analyzed for the specific case study.