Periodic Reporting for period 3 - CEVOLVER (Connected Electric Vehicle Optimized for Life, Value, Efficiency and Range)
Reporting period: 2021-05-01 to 2022-10-31
The current generation of electric vehicles have made significant progress during the recent years. However, they have still not achieved the user acceptance needed to support broader main-stream market uptake. These vehicles are generally still too expensive and/or limited in range to be used as the first car for a typical family. Long charging times and uncertainties in range prediction are common as further barriers to broader market success. For this reason, the CEVOLVER project takes a user-centric approach to create battery-electric vehicles that are usable for comfortable long day trips whilst the installed battery is dimensioned for affordability. Furthermore, the vehicles are set up to take advantage of future improvements in the fast-charging infrastructure that many countries are now planning. CEVOLVER tackles the challenge by making improvements in the vehicle itself to reduce energy consumption as well as maximizing the usage of connectivity for further optimization of both component and system design, as well as control and operating strategies. This encompasses measures that range from the on-board thermal management and vehicle energy management systems to connectivity that supports range-prediction as a key element for eco-driving and eco-charging/eco-routing driver assistance. Within the project, it is demonstrated that long trips are achievable even without further cost-raising increases in battery size. The driver is guided to fast-charging infrastructure along the route that ensures sufficient charging power is available to complete the trip with only minimal additional time needed for the overall trip. The efficient transferability of the results to further vehicles is ensured by adopting a methodology that proves the benefit with an early assessment approach before implementation in demonstrator vehicles.
The specifications of brand independent or common/electric/electronic interfaces have been defined, standards for communications with the cloud and the data have been selected and the use-cases have been defined including requirement for the controls of the BEV system. Definition of the virtual simulation framework were made and generic base vehicle model that demonstrates the correct system and component behavior. The base vehicle model platform is exchanged with all CEVOLVER partners accompanied by a user manual. The features eco-routing, range estimation and eco-driving have been developed and a basic version has been distributed to start the implementation process. The simulation environment has been used to produce first results about thermal management feature. Two prototypes were developed and built. For the first prototype, tests were completed and have been shared with the partners. Investigations of thermal management components among others underlined the potential energy savings by cabin heating using a heat pump instead of a PTC heater. For Some unexpected technical problems delayed the onset of the testing phase, so that only stationary testing and low-speed dynamometer tests could be completed before the final event. Thereafter, the vehicle successfully completed a long-distance drive across the borders of Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. The marginal exceedance of the time limit (60 minutes additional trip time for charging compared to a conventional vehicle) were due to a non-functional fast-charging station with this information not being available yet online, that was not marked as defective in the online portal and the necessary detour towards another fast-charging station. Heating comfort was provided using surface heating panels along with a PTC heater for warm air. This combination was chosen in view of a use case of parcel delivery, in which the driver would open the doors for delivery frequently thereby losing the warm air. Then, heating surfaces that the driver touches or that are radiating to the driver is a lot more effective, whilst for the provision of warm air, when needed, a PCT is the cheaper solution over a heat pump. A malfunction of the PTC control, managed to spoil achieving the energy efficiency target in one test drive, as it heated the cabin air way above the target temperature. Vehicle setups of both validator vehicles were completed. Both validator vehicles underwent testing on dynamometer. Validator 1 was configured reusing the vehicle demonstrator of the OPTEMUS project. Validator 2 was used to complete the effects missing in open road testing of Validator 2. Validator 2 completed successfully the long-distance demonstration drives on open roads between Orbassano and Ceriale using the enhanced cloud-based user guidance for eco-charging and eco-driving of IFPEN. Eco-charging demonstrated to cut up to 47% of charging time by pre-conditioning the battery for fast-charging and then charging the battery only in the SoC window, where maximum power transfer was possible, even though this meant inserting a further charging stop. For WP6 concerning the validation and verification of the demonstrators and assessment of the energy and thermal management optimisation framework and methodology has been completed in the extended time frame despite the impact of COVID-19. is proceeding, but progress is implicitly impacted by CoVid-19 due to the delay of the work packages of the demonstrator vehicles. First measurements though were achieved and evaluated and support the automatization of the evaluation process. Dissemination activities were done i.e. incooperation with projects of the E-VOLVE cluster as well as other projects like GHOST and iModBatt.
Special use cases for customer scenarios and project KPI’s have been developed to judge the overall CEVOLVER objectives. Simulation results and testing on demonstrator vehicles delivered measurement data to evaluate against the targets defined. The cloud-connected services involving simulation models of the vehicles, high-resolution 3D maps of the roads, as well as weather and traffic information contributed significantly to saving time and energy:
Eco-charging demonstrated a time saving for charging of up to 47% when optimising charging locations and durations to exploit the SoC intervals of maximum charging power available by the BMS, including a thermal management that preconditions and keeps the battery temperature in the optimal window. Eco-Driving proved to save up to about 11% electric charge even if the eco-driving/eco-charging target was inclined towards time-efficiency. Nota bene: There is an optimisation problem between time-optimality and energy-optimality, though a study performed in this project revealed that a 90% weight on time-optimality would barely compromise energy-optimality. Optimal configurations for cabin thermal management include the recommendation of a heat pump for passenger cars combined with surface heating, whilst for a commercial vehicle whose driver stops frequently to exit and deliver goods, heated surfaces are the main pathway to provide energy-efficient comfort. In a cost-conscious approach, this can be combined with a cheap PTC heater for warm air to be used just when warm air is needed in addition to the warmth provided by contact and radiation. The thermal management shall further involve heat rejected in operation or while charging by battery, power electronics and electric motor to control temperatures of powertrain components and passenger cabin optimally.
Eco-charging demonstrated a time saving for charging of up to 47% when optimising charging locations and durations to exploit the SoC intervals of maximum charging power available by the BMS, including a thermal management that preconditions and keeps the battery temperature in the optimal window. Eco-Driving proved to save up to about 11% electric charge even if the eco-driving/eco-charging target was inclined towards time-efficiency. Nota bene: There is an optimisation problem between time-optimality and energy-optimality, though a study performed in this project revealed that a 90% weight on time-optimality would barely compromise energy-optimality. Optimal configurations for cabin thermal management include the recommendation of a heat pump for passenger cars combined with surface heating, whilst for a commercial vehicle whose driver stops frequently to exit and deliver goods, heated surfaces are the main pathway to provide energy-efficient comfort. In a cost-conscious approach, this can be combined with a cheap PTC heater for warm air to be used just when warm air is needed in addition to the warmth provided by contact and radiation. The thermal management shall further involve heat rejected in operation or while charging by battery, power electronics and electric motor to control temperatures of powertrain components and passenger cabin optimally.