Integrated components, systems and architectures for efficient adaption and conversion of commercial vehicle platforms to 3rd generation battery electric vehicles for future CO2-free city logistics

Project Information

SYS2WHEEL

Grant agreement ID: 824244

DOI

10.3030/824244

Project closed

EC signature date 3 December 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 30 September 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 6 531 672,50

EU contribution

€ 4 873 421,75

Coordinated by

VIRTUAL VEHICLE RESEARCH GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SYS2WHEEL (Integrated components, systems and architectures for efficient adaption and conversion of commercial vehicle platforms to 3rd generation battery electric vehicles for future CO2-free city logistics)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

City logistic is one of the most polluting segments of the transport sector. Commercial vehicles substantially contribute to CO2 emissions, NOx emissions and particulate matter in large cities.
Moreover, commercial vehicles also contribute to noise by generating a ~2 to 10 times higher noise levels than passenger cars. Hence, they have a significant negative impact on public health not only through the emission of pollutants, but also through the traffic noise. Additionally, operating patterns of the urban freight vehicles (e.g. short trips, high stopping frequency etc.), resulted in ~ 20% of energy consumption of overall road transport.

Therefore, policy makers such as the European Commission set the goal of reaching CO2 free city logistics by 2030.
In agreement with this, many European, US and Asian regions and major cities have started to tighten emission targets, and there is a high likelihood of bans on diesel engines. Prediction results have demonstrated that, due to the urban economy growth, urban freight transport is predicted to grow 39% in Europe by 2030 relative to 2006[2] (in ton-kilometres).

These figures clearly demonstrate that city logistics faces severe challenges. Therefore, clean, efficient, high-capacity city logistic is indispensable for the competitiveness, economic growth and job preservation of the Europe.
In this context, electric commercial vehicles have the potential to be a game-changer for the urban logistics since they can improve air quality, and reduce energy consumption, oil dependency, and noise in cities.


Even though, electrified commercial vehicles give a promising solution, mass-use of electrified commercial vehicles is hindered due to:
the limited driving range
high production costs
dropping prices for natural gas and oil.

While affordable, compact and lightweight battery capacity may be a key enabler, breakthrough in the use of electric commercial vehicles cannot be solely achieved by battery development.
Substantial innovation that enables the development and integration of advanced drive train components, time-sensitive networks, and ICT based software solutions are needed in parallel to the improvements in battery systems.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Technical solutions, brand-independent components, interfaces and systems and boundary conditions have been investigated for the development work regarding the in-wheel solutions.
The target vehicle for the in-wheel system demonstrator is a FIAT Doblo. For this vehicle with a maximum weight of 2.5 tons, essential enabling elements are in-wheel e-machines, a novel suspension for in-wheel system, time-sensitive networking (TSN), advanced controls, affordable and efficient processes, as well as scalability/ transferability of innovations.
The Vehicle Demonstrator for the e-axle System is a IVECO Daily. For this car with a maximum weight of 5 tons, a powertrain driven by an e-axle is the point of discussion. The results will be scaled for a 7t vehicle.
The innovations have been implemented into the FIAT Doblo. The e-axle has been tested on an IVECO daily frame on the roller test bench.

Main results of SYS2Wheel:

On component and system level a cost reduction of greater than 20% could be achieved for N1 and N2 demonstrators; a 50% cost reduction could be achieved by eliminating components in the design; for the e-motors a 12% reduction could be achieved and 35% cost reduction was assigned to rare earth material reduction. For the N1 category demonstrator 80% cost reduction is assigned to application of TSN for communication (this is not applicable for N2 demonstrator, since TSN was not implemented there).
Concerning efficiency: some efficiency targets could not be met to 100%. The reason is that too less time was available for calibration loops on system level that are common practice in automotive industry.
The in-wheel system together with the close 2 wheel suspension offer increased space for cargo for logistics companies.
The e-axle system developed for the N2 category vehicle helps in reducing production costs, since some components in the powertrain can be eliminated.
The energy harvesting device of Hiwitronics can be effectively used to supply sensors in the wheel continuously with power, which is useful, when high data rates are required and a battery located in the wheel would have to be replaced too often.
The time sensitive network from TTTech is already at the market.

It could be demonstrated that interms of cost for a logistics application scenario based on a two million inhabitant city in Austria, the SYS2WHEEL demonstrator vehicles are performing better than the market-leading ones what total cost of ownership and revenues per delivery tour is concerned.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ultimate goal of sys2WHEEL is to develop sustainable city logistics and improve mobility, accessibility, and quality of life of European citizens by taking a transdisciplinary approach. Both, in-wheel and e-axle solutions have a high potential regarding fully electric commercial vehicles for future city logistics since they provide numerous advantages and benefits:

1. Increasing driving range with the same battery or keeping same range with smaller batteries
2. Reducing number of components and complexity of supply chain
3. Compact packaging of powertrain components enabling more space for driver and freight
4. Reducing vehicle weight and thus CO2 emissions
5. Reducing maintenance cost
6. Reducing energy cost
7. Lowering development cost and thus vehicle price
8. Powertrain technologies for intelligent and connected vehicles
9. Providing high stability and performance
10. Enabling attractive, user-centered designs

Moreover, the uniqueness of the project relies also on the availability of two urban freight vehicle demonstrators (N2 IVECO and N1 TOF) addressing different market requirements, drivetrain architectures, and software technologies. They will demonstrate the scalability, transferability and benefits of the sys2WHEEL solutions in a representative environment.

SYS2WHEEL at a glance