The Swedish Energy Agency grants CEVT resources to perform research on more efficient electric vehicles

Description

Everyone seems to be in agreement that electrification is a way forward if we want to achieve a more sustainable and livable tomorrow. But the industry is still in the process of developing tomorrow's electric cars and more efforts are now being put to speed up this transformation.

One example of this is that the Swedish Energy Agency has just granted CEVT resources to explore how to further improve the already high efficiency of electric vehicles. The name of the new research project is HEFE (Highly Efficient Electric vehicles) and will focus on two specific areas, and as the Swedish Energy Agency writes in their motivation and decision, you can see clear benefits of both increased knowledge and improved energy efficiency in this.

"By receiving this grant from the Swedish Energy Agency, we will be able to advance further within the two largest energy consumers - vehicle propulsion and thermal management. Two new PhD students will be employed by CEVT and allowed to focus entirely on research within electric propulsion design and thermal management control, says Johan Hellsing, Senior Technical Specialist Powertrain Technologies at CEVT.

The first area lays within the electric powertrain, where research will be made on system design – allowing dual-motor systems with each motor optimized for its specific purpose, adjustable traction system voltage, low-friction gearbox technologies, Silicon carbide-based inverters as well as efficiency optimized motor control. The goal is to improve the energy efficiency of the electric propulsion system by 5% over a typical driving cycle.

The second area lays within the thermal system – consisting of cabin climate system as well as the cooling system of battery and powertrain – where research will be made on how to optimally control the vehicle’s thermal system. The thermal system is an innovation by CEVT and will drastically improve the efficiency of the thermal system. The research on thermal system optimal control is expected to improve the system efficiency by a further 10%.

“CEVT will continue to keep a strong focus on vehicle energy efficiency. With this project being carried out by PHD students it also enables a close collaboration with the industry and academia with the results being made available. There is also a strong possibility that this will be carried into future project development. Win win for all, says” Johan Hellsing.

CEVT has been granted 5.9 MSEK in this project.