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While significant progress has been made in recent years to develop hybrid and battery electric vehicles for passenger car and light-duty applications to meet future fuel economy targets, the application of hybrid powertrains to heavy-duty truck applications has been very limited. The relatively lower energy and power density of batteries in comparison to diesel fuel and the operating profiles of most heavy-duty trucks, combine to make the application of hybrid powertrain for these applications more challenging. The high torque and power requirements of heavy-duty trucks over a long operating range, the majority of which is at constant cruise point, along with a high payback period, complexity, cost, weight and range anxiety, make the hybrid and battery electric solution less attractive than a conventional powertrain.

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). Still, major challenges for large scale deployment remain. They include higher maturity with respect to performance (e.g., range, interaction with the grid), development efficiency (e.g., time-to-market), or production costs. Additionally, an important market transformation currently occurs with the co-development of automated driving functions, connectivity, mobility-as-a-service. New opportunities arise to customize road transportation systems toward application-driven, user-centric smart mobility solutions.

The electrification of vehicle propulsion has changed the landscape of vehicle NVH. Pure electric vehicles (EV) are almost always quieter than those powered by internal combustion engines. However, one of the key challenges with the development of range extended electric vehicles (ReEV) is the NVH behavior of the vehicle. Specifically, the transition from the EV mode to one where the range extender engine is operational can cause significant NVH issues. In addition, the operation of the range extender engine relative to various driving conditions can also pose significant NVH concerns. In this paper internal combustion engines are examined in terms of their acoustic behavior when used as range extenders. This is done by simulating the vibrations at the engine mounting positions as well as the intake and exhaust orifice noise. By using a transfer path synthesis, interior noise components of the range extenders are calculated from these excitations.

Faced with one of the greatest challenges of humanity – climate change – the European Union has set out a strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 as part of the European Green Deal. To date, extensive research has been conducted on the CO2 life cycle analysis of mobile propulsion systems. However, achieving absolute net-zero CO2 emissions requires the adjustment of the relevant key performance indicators for the development of mobile propulsion systems. In this context, research is presented that examines the ecological and economic sustainability impacts of a hydrogen-fueled mild hybrid vehicle, a hydrogen-fueled 48V hybrid vehicle, a methanol-fueled 400V hybrid vehicle, a methanol-to-gasoline-fueled plug-in hybrid vehicle, a battery electric vehicle, and a fuel cell electric vehicle. For this purpose, a combined Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life-Cycle Cost Assessment was performed for the different propulsion concepts.

Sustainable and energy-efficient consumption is a main concern in contemporary society. Driven by more stringent international requirements, automobile manufacturers have shifted the focus of development into new technologies such as Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs). These powertrains offer significant improvements in the efficiency of the propulsion system compared to conventional vehicles, but they also lead to higher complexities in the design process and in the control strategy. In order to obtain an optimum powertrain configuration, each component has to be laid out considering the best powertrain efficiency. With such a perspective, a simulation study was performed for the purpose of minimizing well-to-wheel CO2 emissions of a city car through electrification. Three different innovative systems, a Series Hybrid Electric Vehicle (SHEV), a Mixed Hybrid Electric Vehicle (MHEV) and a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) were compared to a conventional one.

The automotive industry continues to develop new powertrain and vehicle technologies aimed at reducing overall vehicle-level fuel consumption. Specifically, the use of electrified propulsion systems is expected to play an increasingly important role in helping OEM’s meet fleet CO2 reduction targets for 2025 and beyond. Electric and hybrid electric vehicles do not typically utilize IC engines for low-speed operation. Under these low-speed operating conditions, the vehicles are much quieter than conventional IC engine-powered vehicles, making their approach difficult to detect by pedestrians. To mitigate this safety concern, many manufacturers have synthesized noise (using exterior speakers) to increase detection distance. Further, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has provided recommendations pursuant to the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (PSEA) of 2010 for such exterior noise signatures to ensure detectability.

Hybrid and electric vehicles present a promising trade-off between the necessary reductions in emissions and fuel consumption, the improvement in driving pleasure and performance of today's and tomorrow's vehicles. These hybrid vehicles rely primarily on electronics for the control and the coordination of the different sub-systems or components. The number and complexity of the functions distributed over many control units is increasing in these vehicles. Functional safety, defined as absence of unacceptable risk due to the hazards caused by mal-function in the electric or electronic systems is becoming a key factor in the development of modern vehicles such as electric and hybrid vehicles. This important increase in functional safety-related issues has raised the need for the automotive industry to develop its own functional safety standard, ISO 26262.

In this article, the development challenges of a fuel cell system are explained using the example of the BREEZE! fuel cell range extender (FC-REX) applied in an FEV Liiona. The FEV Liiona is a battery electric vehicle based on a Fiat 500 developed by FEV. The BREEZE! system is the first applied 30 kW low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (LT PEM) fuel cell system in the subcompact vehicle class. Due to the highly integrated system approach and dry cathode operation, a compact design of the range extender module with a system power density of 0.45 kW/l can be achieved so that the vehicle interior including trunk remains completely usable. System development for fuel cells significantly influences performance, efficiency, package, durability, and required maintenance effort of a fuel cell electric powertrain. In order to ensure safe and reliable operation, the fuel cell system has to be supplied with sufficient amounts of air, hydrogen, and coolant flows.

Electrification of heavy-duty trucks has received significant attention in the past year as a result of future regulations in some states. For example, California will require a certain percentage of tractor trailers, delivery trucks and vans sold to be zero emission by 2035. However, the relatively low energy density of batteries in comparison to diesel fuel, as well as the operating profiles of heavy-duty trucks, make the application of electrified powertrain in these applications more challenging. Heavy-duty vehicles can be broadly classified into two main categories; long-haul tractors and vocational vehicles. Long-haul tractors offer limited benefit from electrification due to the majority of operation occurring at constant cruise speeds, long range requirements and the high efficiency provided by the diesel engine.

Modeling thermal systems in Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) is crucial for enhancing energy efficiency through predictive control strategies, thereby extending vehicle range. A major obstacle in this modeling is the often limited availability of detailed system information. This research introduces a methodology using neural networks for system identification, a powerful technique capable of approximating the physical behavior of thermal systems with minimal data requirements. By employing black-box models, this approach supports the creation of optimization-based operational strategies, such as Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Reinforcement Learning-based Control (RL). The system identification process is executed using MATLAB Simulink, with virtual training data produced by validated Simulink models to establish the method's feasibility. The neural networks utilized for system identification are implemented in MATLAB code.

One of the challenges faced when using Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles is to keep the cell temperatures below a given threshold. Mathematical modeling would indeed be an efficient tool to test virtually this requirement and accelerate the battery product lifecycle. Moreover, temperature predicting models could potentially be used on-board to decrease the limitations associated with sensor based temperature feedbacks. Accordingly, we present a complete modeling procedure which was used to calculate the cell temperatures during a given electric vehicle trip. The procedure includes a simple vehicle dynamics model, an equivalent circuit battery model, and a 3D finite element thermal model. Model parameters were identified from measurements taken during constant current and pulse current discharge tests. The cell temperatures corresponding to an actual electric vehicle trip were calculated and compared with measured values.

The interest in electric propulsion of vehicles has increased in recent years and is being discussed extensively by experts as well as the public. Up to now the driving range and the utilization of pure electric vehicles are still limited in comparison to conventional vehicles due to the limited capacity and the long charging times of today's batteries. This is a challenge to customer acceptance of a pure electric vehicle, even for a city car application. A Range Extender concept could achieve the desired customer acceptance, but should not impact the “electric driving” experience, and should not cause further significant increases in the manufacturing and purchasing cost. The V2 engine concept presented in this paper is particularly suited to a low cost, modular vehicle concept. Advantages regarding packaging can be realized with the use of two generators in combination with the V2 engine.