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In order to travel in a chaotic and dynamic environment, an autonomous vehicle requires a motion plan. This motion plan ensures collision free, optimum travel without violating any traffic rules. The optimum solution for path planning problem exists in higher dimensions, however, with the help of useful heuristics the problem can be solved in real time, which is required for real time operation of an autonomous vehicle. There are different well established techniques available to plan a collision free kinematically traversable path. One of such techniques is called conformal Lattice planner. However, the legacy version of conformal lattice planner is not optimized and also is prone to fail under specific dynamic environment conditions. Moreover, the legacy version of conformal lattice planner is also not road aware. Due to this reason it is a semi optimized way to solve the motion planning problem.

Electric passenger car with floor battery usually have its front boot space empty and the space is used as additional luggage storage. This space can be utilized to capture the wind energy and generate electricity. Based on this, the objective of this work is to perform an aerodynamic analysis of an electric passenger car using wind turbine placed at the front. Initially the aerodynamic analysis of a basic electric car model is performed and further simulated using wind turbines and aerodynamic add-on-devices. The simulation is carried-out using ANSYS Fluent tool. Based on the simulation result, scaled down optimized model is fabricated and tested in wind tunnel for validation. The result shows reduction of drag coefficient by 5.9%.

Major cause of air pollution in the world is due to burning of fossil fuels for transport application; around 23% GHG emissions are produced due to transport sector. Likewise, the major cause of air pollution in Indian cities is also due to transport sector. Marginal improvement in the fuel economy provide profound impact on surrounding air quality and lightweighting of vehicle mass is the key factor in improving fuel economy. The paper describes robust and integrated approach used for design and development of lightweight bus structures for Indian city bus applications. An attempt is made to demonstrate the use of environment friendly material like aluminium in development of lightweight superstrutured city buses for India. Exercise involved design, development and prototype manufacturing of 12m Low Entry and 12m Semi Low Floor (SLF) bus models.

Due to the transformation of the automotive industry from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles, new challenges have emerged concerning Electromagnetic Compatibility. Though the Radiated Emission limits in global regulation are the same for both types of powertrains of vehicles, however, due to the phenomena of conversion of high voltage to low voltage, rapid charging/discharging, and different components involved in electric powertrain, the Radiated Emission from electric vehicles give a strikingly different trend which is challenging to combat. When compared with the conventional Spark Ignition vehicle, many other electronic components of the electric vehicle stay in the mode of Power ON while in the “Ignition ON” steady state. This resulted in us observing a significant shift in the amplitude and frequency throughout the frequency band of Radiated Emission measurement.

The Light commercial vehicle (LCV) is primarily used for the last mile delivery and it hold the volume share of around 61% in the commercial vehicle segment. The last mile delivery services have seen a massive surge after the CoVID 19 pandemic resulting is the increase sale of LCV in last few years and is expected to grow further by 8-11% in the coming years. However, city logistic is also responsible for most pollution and noise in the city. Hence, policymakers are aiming to reduce carbon footprint by promoting the use of Electric vehicle by providing incentive to automakers though schemes like FAME I and FAME II. In order to effectively reduce the carbon footprint within city it is important to increase the use of new electric vehicle and convert the old polluting vehicles to electric. Hence, a retro fitment solution for converting used LCV to electric can help in reducing emission as well as noise pollution. Later the same solution can be offered as OE fitment solution.

This work is a part of program on “Development of High Power Density DI, Diesel Engine to Meet US EPA - Tier III Emission norms for off highway and Genset application purpose. This is a 4 Cylinder, TCIC engine delivering 165 Hp @ 2500 rpm. BMEP at max torque comes to be 18 bar giving max cylinder firing pressure of 160 bar. Engine block is a most vital component which has to serve various functions all together. Also design of block for such a high BMEP levels, demands to give a different design strategy required for development of High Performance Engines. In order to reduce overall production cost, several constraints are imposed on design of new block. Design of block is carried out within several design, assembly and manufacturing constraints such as maintain a specific cylinder centre distance, integral oil cooler in the engine block, re-location of camshaft and FIE positions, incorporation of various accessories viz. steering pump, Air Compressor etc.

A methodology for design and development of radiator cooling fan is developed with an objective to improve underhood thermal management. For this purpose an Axial Fan Design Software has been developed which is based on Arbitrary Vortex Flow theory. The software is useful for obtaining initial blade design for the given basic functional requirements in terms of Airflow, Pressure Rise and Speed which defines the operating point of the fan. CFD analysis of the initial fan design is then carried out to predict the fan performance curve. Computation model resembles a fan set up in a wind tunnel. Further, Parametric Optimization is carried out using CFD to meet the functional requirements. A Rapid Prototype sample of the optimized fan design is manufactured and tested in a fan test rig made as per AMCA 210-99 standard to evaluate the fan performance curve and the power consumption.

In today’s scenario, the emission norms are getting stringent day by day due to an increased level of pollution. The world is shifting towards low carbon footprint which made it necessary to adopt efficient technologies with fewer emissions. The hybridization of vehicles has resulted in improved efficiency with lower emissions which can fulfil the near future emission norms. Retrofitting of hybrid components into a conventional IC engine vehicle is so far the best way to achieve better performance both economically and technologically. This research is primarily focused on the design and development of a novel retrofit solution of P3x architecture for the light commercial vehicle. This retrofit solution is different from other hybrid solutions in terms of powertrain. It contains an innovative add-on powertrain along with the existing powertrain. This additional powertrain consists of a pair of helical gears followed by a chain and sprocket as a coupler for traction motor.

The use of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) will become imperative to meet the emission challenges. HEV have two power sources-fossil fuels driven I.C. Engine and the battery based drive. Battery technologies have seen a tremendous development, and therefore HEV’s have been benefited. Even as the battery capacities have improved, maintaining and monitoring their health has been a challenge. This research paper uses open-source platform to build a BMS. The flexibility in the implementation of the system has helped in the rapid prototyping of the system. The BMS system was evaluated on a scaled-down electric toy car for its performance and sustainability. The BMS was evaluated for reverse polarity, protection against overcharge, short-circuit, deep discharge and overload on lead acid battery. It also includes temperature monitoring of the batteries. This proposed system is evaluated on the in-house HEV two-wheeler. The initial results are promising.

Ride is considered to be one of the crucial criterion for evaluating the performance of a vehicle. Automobile industry is striving for improvement in designs to provide superior passenger comfort in Commercial vehicles segment. In Industry, Quarter-car model has been used for years to study the vehicle’s ride dynamics. But due to lower DOF involved in quarter car, the output accuracy is somewhat compromised. This paper aims in development of a 7 DOF full-car Model to perform the ride- comfort analysis for Light Duty 4*2 Commercial Bus using MATLAB Simulink which can be used to tune the suspension design to meet the required ride-comfort criteria. Firstly, experimental data and Physical Parameters are collected by performing Practical Test on commercial Bus on different road profiles. Secondly, a Full Car Mathematical Model with 7 DOF has been developed for a bus using MATLAB Simulink R2018a.

Wheel rims and wheel hub bearings are critical components of Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) suspension systems and are subjected to extensive fatigue loading throughout their operational life. Actual loading conditions on wheels are a combination of radial loads (vertical loads) and cornering loads (lateral loads) acting simultaneously and are directly influenced by payload and road conditions. Currently for Indian usage, there are test guidelines [1] only for separate uniaxial Radial Fatigue Test (RFT) and Cornering Fatigue Test (CFT) for wheel rims which might not represent realistic combined loading conditions, and no generic guidelines are available for testing of wheel hub bearings.

The Indian automotive industry is striving towards more safe and durable vehicles. A need was felt to study the effect of changes in axle static loads on fatigue life of the axle components. Also, there was a need to develop generic test method, as there are no test standards or generic methods available in public domain for fatigue testing of commercial vehicle axles. The study was carried out to check direct effect of change in axle loads on various connections on axle, effect of suspension configuration and force distribution, Vehicle dynamics, etc. In this paper, an India specific generic load spectra was evaluated for accelerated laboratory validation. Paper discusses the methodology as; study of heavy commercial vehicle systems, road load data collection on identified test vehicles w.r.t. test matrix finalized, India specific test loads and load spectra development, normalization of axle load spectra w.r.t to static axle weights and arriving at test guidelines.

Last decade has been era of environmental awareness. Various programs have launched for making devices and appliances eco-friendly. This initiative has lead automobile industry toward hybridization and now total electrification of vehicles. As electric motor is being added to automobile as a prime mover, due to high frequency vibrations along with higher torque electric motor needs to be isolated properly & carefully as this vibration can damage other automobile parts. Dynamic response of electric motor is different from response of IC engines, so use of engine mounting design method may not be suitable for designing mounting system for electric motor. First, both 4- point and 3- point mounting system are considered for analytical and experimental investigation of force and displacement transmissibility. Position and orientation of elastomeric mounts plays important role in design of mounting system for electric motor.

This project was undertaken with an objective to develop methodology by formulating set of procedures that would help in achieving the end goal. Once methodology is established, it paves way to optimize the end results more effectively which results in reduced lead time during product development. Methodology can either be based on pure experimental investigations or by simulations. Combination of mathematical and empirical approach is inherently followed in simulations, which helps in reducing the testing time and overall cost. Commercial vehicles (CV) have seen paradigm shift in the fuel consumption (FC) certification approaches, with an intention to align with 2016 Paris climate agreement. Use of simulation tool like VECTO for commercial vehicle FC certification has gained momentum in Europe. Overall experience gained in commercial vehicle FC simulation has motivated us to leverage the learnings for off-road applications like agricultural tractors.

The Indian government has been promoting electric vehicles through various policy initiatives, such as offering incentives and subsidies to EV manufacturers and consumers, establishing charging infrastructure across the country, and setting ambitious targets for EV adoption. These measures aim to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels, mitigate air pollution, and promote sustainable mobility. As a result, the demand for electric vehicles across India is steadily increasing, and the country is emerging as a lucrative market for EVs globally. An electronically commuted brushless DC (BLDC) motor usually functions for traction in electric two-wheelers. Electric vehicles need to comply with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements. During the EMC compliance of electric two-wheelers, it is certain that the BLDC motor and its controller play an important role.

The Electric Vehicles (EV) or Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) has a bunch of electrical/electronic components and its operation give rise to complicated EMI/EMC issues. The Power Electronics Module (PEM), comprising of DC-DC convertor/invertor and Battery Management Unit (BMU), is driving the motor to propel the vehicle. “Battery Pack Module” powers these units through cables. The fast switching of these circuit elements present in the system leads to noise propagation through the cables. These noise signals give rise to various Electromagnetic (EM) related issues in the cable harness of vehicle. It is essential that these cables should not interfere with other electronic components and also does not get effected by external EM disturbances.

With introduction of Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) norms from 1st April 2020, automotive industry will observe one of most stringent Indian emission regulation implementation in line with International standards. The Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) regulation also mandates for Real Driving Emission (RDE) measurement from 1st April 2020 for data collection and subsequently establishment of RDE compliance Factor (CF) by 1st April 2023. Indian RDE test procedure will be largely based on European RDE with minor changes in terms of climatic conditions, traffic pattern, speed limit, topography, and vehicle population. For performing a successful RDE trial one of the most critical part is selection of a route on which all RDE boundary conditions can be met. This technical paper summarizes the outcome of RDE experiments carried out on Light Duty Vehicles (LDV) in the city of Pune, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The collected data was post processed using CO2 based Moving Average Window (MAW) method.

To enhance the crashworthiness of electric vehicles, designing the optimized and safer battery pack is very essential. The deformed battery cell can result in catastrophic events like thermal runaway and thus it becomes crucial to study the mechanical response of battery cell. The goal of the research is to experimentally investigate the effect of mechanical deformation on Lithium-ion battery cell. The paper thoroughly studies the phenomenon of short circuiting at the time of failure. Various experiments are carried on 18650 cylindrical cells (NCA chemistry) under custom designed fume hood. The setup captures the failure modes of battery cell. The loading conditions have been designed considering the very possible physical conditions during crash event. The study has been done for radial compression, semicircular indentation, hemispherical indentation, flat circular indentation and case of three-point bending.

Passive safety regulations specify minimum safety performance requirements of vehicle in terms of protecting its occupants and other road users in accident scenarios. Currently for majority cases, the compliance of vehicle design to passive safety regulations is assessed through physical testing. With increased number of products and more comprehensive passive safety requirements, the complexity of certification is getting challenged due to high cost involved in prototype parts and the market pressures for early product introduction through reduced product development timelines. One of the ways for addressing this challenge is to promote CAE based certification of vehicle designs for regulatory compliance. Since accuracy of CAE predictions have improved over a period of time, such an approach is accepted for few regulations like ECE-R 66/01, AIS069 etc which involves only loadings of the structures.

On-board diagnostics (OBD) is a term referring to a vehicle's self-diagnostic and reporting capability. It is a system originally designed to reduce emissions by monitoring the performance of major emission related components. There are two kinds of on-board diagnostic systems: OBD-I and OBD-II. In India OBD I was implemented from April 2010 for BS IV vehicles. OBD II was implemented from April 2013 for BS IV vehicles. Apart from the comprehensive component monitors, OBD II system also has noncontinuous monitors like Catalyst monitoring, Lambda monitoring, and other after treatment system monitors. For OBD II verification and Validation, it is required to test all the sensors and actuators that are present in the engine, for all possible failures. From an emissions point of view there are lists of critical failures that are caused due to malfunction of sensors and actuators. Carrying out the full matrix failure testing on the running engine could be tedious, unsafe and time consuming.