Objective
Regional passenger transport is a rapidly growing market in Europe, as a result of the need to minimise pollution in cities by reducing the demand for personal transport. Persistent requirements for mass transport include: reduction in investment cost, minimisation of emissions, reduction of maintenance costs, and improvements in energy efficiency. As the cost of electrification is often unacceptably high, diesel powered vehicles are still the only remaining alternative. However, the maintenance costs associated with the diesel engine are very high, while frequent stop/start cycling on suburban routes results in high levels of noxious ernissions and reduced energy efficiency.
The objective of this project is to develop a hybrid powertrain, comprising a gas turbine engine which is directly coupled to a high speed generator, a flywheel and power electronics for traction and regenerative braking. The complete system, under the authority of a supervisory control unit for safe and efficient operation, will be installed in a suitable vehide. The prototype vehicle will then be tested for its safety, environmental acceptability, performance, functionality, operability, maintainability, and reliability. This will establish proof of concept.
The project will aim to show clear performance targets that would make this drivetrain an attractive and practical solution for a wide range of mobile applications in addition to urban transit vehides.
The project will also perform a detailed comparison of competing technologies, including diesel power, diesel electric hybrid and pure electric. This will be done on the basis of performance (acceleration, emissions and efficiency), cost of required investment and maintenance costs.
The overall project achievements are reduction in investment costs by 30%, improvement in overall system efficiency by 30%, minimisation of emissions to ULEV and EURO 3 standards, reduction in maintenance cost by 50%, and minimisation of noise to EU standards.
The seven partners and three associated partners include large industrial concerns as well as prestigious universities with complementary expertise. An End Users Club (EUC) is also associated to contribute to the specification, evaluation and exploitation of the integrated hybrid system as well as its components.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
67891 Niederbronn
France