An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction
A detailed analysis of the power demand of an ultraefficient lightweight-battery electric vehicle is performed. The aim is to overcome the problem of lightweight electric vehicles that may have a relatively bad environmental impact if their power demand is not extremely reduced. In particular, elect...
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doaj-92d1da83e0064b2ab3984c43a7132a0e2021-02-02T00:05:30ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732021-02-011476676610.3390/en14030766An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight ConstructionPietro Stabile0Federico Ballo1Gianpiero Mastinu2Massimiliano Gobbi3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milan, ItalyA detailed analysis of the power demand of an ultraefficient lightweight-battery electric vehicle is performed. The aim is to overcome the problem of lightweight electric vehicles that may have a relatively bad environmental impact if their power demand is not extremely reduced. In particular, electric vehicles have a higher environmental impact during the production phase, which should be balanced by a lower impact during the service life by means of a lightweight design. As an example of an ultraefficient electric vehicle, a prototype for the Shell Eco-marathon competition is considered. A “tank-to-wheel” multiphysics model (thermo-electro-mechanical) of the vehicle was developed in “Matlab-Simscape”. The model includes the battery, the DC motors, the motor controller and the vehicle drag forces. A preliminary model validation was performed by considering experimental data acquisitions completed during the 2019 Shell Eco-marathon European competition at the Brooklands Circuit (UK). Numerical simulations are employed to assess the sharing of the energy consumption among the main dissipation sources. From the analysis, we found that the main sources of mechanical dissipation (i.e., rolling resistance, gravitational/inertial force and aerodynamic drag) have the same role in the defining the power consumption of such kind of vehicles. Moreover, the effect of the main vehicle parameters (i.e., mass, aerodynamic coefficient and tire rolling resistance coefficient) on the energy consumption was analyzed through a sensitivity analysis. Results showed a linear correlation between the variation of the parameters and the power demand, with mass exhibiting the highest influence. The results of this study provide fundamental information to address critical decisions for designing new and more efficient lightweight vehicles, as they allow the designer to clearly identify which are the main parameters to keep under control during the design phase and which are the most promising areas of action.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/766lightweight designmultiphysics modellingelectric vehicles |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Pietro Stabile Federico Ballo Gianpiero Mastinu Massimiliano Gobbi |
spellingShingle |
Pietro Stabile Federico Ballo Gianpiero Mastinu Massimiliano Gobbi An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction Energies lightweight design multiphysics modelling electric vehicles |
author_facet |
Pietro Stabile Federico Ballo Gianpiero Mastinu Massimiliano Gobbi |
author_sort |
Pietro Stabile |
title |
An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction |
title_short |
An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction |
title_full |
An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction |
title_fullStr |
An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Ultra-Efficient Lightweight Electric Vehicle—Power Demand Analysis to Enable Lightweight Construction |
title_sort |
ultra-efficient lightweight electric vehicle—power demand analysis to enable lightweight construction |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Energies |
issn |
1996-1073 |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
A detailed analysis of the power demand of an ultraefficient lightweight-battery electric vehicle is performed. The aim is to overcome the problem of lightweight electric vehicles that may have a relatively bad environmental impact if their power demand is not extremely reduced. In particular, electric vehicles have a higher environmental impact during the production phase, which should be balanced by a lower impact during the service life by means of a lightweight design. As an example of an ultraefficient electric vehicle, a prototype for the Shell Eco-marathon competition is considered. A “tank-to-wheel” multiphysics model (thermo-electro-mechanical) of the vehicle was developed in “Matlab-Simscape”. The model includes the battery, the DC motors, the motor controller and the vehicle drag forces. A preliminary model validation was performed by considering experimental data acquisitions completed during the 2019 Shell Eco-marathon European competition at the Brooklands Circuit (UK). Numerical simulations are employed to assess the sharing of the energy consumption among the main dissipation sources. From the analysis, we found that the main sources of mechanical dissipation (i.e., rolling resistance, gravitational/inertial force and aerodynamic drag) have the same role in the defining the power consumption of such kind of vehicles. Moreover, the effect of the main vehicle parameters (i.e., mass, aerodynamic coefficient and tire rolling resistance coefficient) on the energy consumption was analyzed through a sensitivity analysis. Results showed a linear correlation between the variation of the parameters and the power demand, with mass exhibiting the highest influence. The results of this study provide fundamental information to address critical decisions for designing new and more efficient lightweight vehicles, as they allow the designer to clearly identify which are the main parameters to keep under control during the design phase and which are the most promising areas of action. |
topic |
lightweight design multiphysics modelling electric vehicles |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/766 |
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