Electric cars - Making the move from niche to mainstream Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are gaining in popularity among Europe’s car buyers, but their high cost is holding them back from wider acceptance. However, developments in technology, particularly in the area of modular powertrains, could be the answer to bringing down their price. Transport and Mobility Climate Change and Environment Energy © David Jolley Battery electric cars are slowly gaining in popularity among consumers in Europe as mainstream automakers respond to an industry-wide shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles. But despite pledges from regional governments to abolish sales of new combustion-engine vehicles in the next two decades, and pressure from the European Union to reduce carbon emissions, consumers are still not opting for battery-driven models in the numbers that are needed to turn them from a niche segment to mainstream one. Data released this month from Europe’s ACEA industry association shows that despite a 10.5% rise in electrified vehicles last year, driven by a 117% jump in BEVs, petrol and diesel models still commanded an overall 75.5% share of European sales. Volkswagen Group, the world’s second biggest automaker by volume after Toyota, is currently investing 73 million euros up to 2025 to prepare its German plants in Hanover, Emden and Zwickau for the production of BEVs. Despite this, just 231,600 cars sold by the automaker last year were full-electric models, from overall global sales of 9.3 million vehicles. One of the biggest problems BEVs face is their price. As an example, Opel’s entry-level full-electric e-Corsa currently costs 29,900 euros in Germany, whereas its petrol-driven sibling starts at 14,415 euros, less than half the price. Part of the reason for the high pricing is a lack of uniformity in production. Automakers are only now beginning to produce universal electric platforms that can be scaled up or down for different-sized vehicles segments. Electric drivetrains, however, are still largely built in a bespoke fashion for different BEVs. There are other big hurdles that impact the cost of BEVs, and they include the cost of batteries and high raw material costs. One European Union research project addressing all these issues is Drivemode. It seeks to develop a highly efficient and compact modular drivetrain for BEVs that uses the vehicle’s stored energy more efficiently through a higher-voltage 800-volt electric system. Currently, most automakers are using 400-volt systems. “With Drivemode we have a very integrated unit. That way it makes [everything including] the assembly process, the sourcing, the storing and the assembly, to putting it in the vehicle, very optimal, so you have a reduced production cost,” explains Deepak Singh, an engineer from National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), one of the project’s partners. In Singh’s opinion, automakers are still taking a complicated approach by implementing varying electrical setups for each vehicle segment they design a BEV for, whether that is a passenger car or a light commercial vehicle, such as a van. “It makes it very difficult to do a quick product placement in the market,” Singh says. The project’s modular system on the other hand brings together the electronics, a gearbox, and the motor in a unit that can be scaled up according to the power requirements of a given vehicle. Put simply, that means that one of the modules could be used to drive a small city car, while a sports-car might require four modules. This approach would have an obvious effect in reducing the cost of building mass-market BEVs. Watch the video interview with Deepak Singh, engineer from National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMQeSXs5b0 Drivemode’s use of an 800-volt electrical system also helps address other cost hurdles. In general, motor size is defined by torque capability. The higher-voltage systems, which run at speeds of 20,000 rpm, need less torque to achieve efficiency, meaning that they can be smaller in size and weight. Read the full article on: http://drivemode-h2020.eu/electric-cars-making-the-move-from-niche-to-mainstream/ Keywords batteries, electric cars, battery electric vehicles, car
