Electronic systems used to operate and monitor all vehicle types have benefited from substantial improvements during the past few years and have also improved the prospects for EVs. Improved power electronics have resulted in new opportunities to control and steer the increasingly complex-component configurations. Further optimization of these components is necessary – like new concepts for integrating them in the overall system and tuning them – to meet the specific requirements of different vehicle applications. These developments and the opportunities they provide have been analysed in Task 17 during the last five years.
Member Countries contributing to Task 17 were Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. Assignment of this Task was to analyse technology options for the optimization of EVs, which will enhance vehicle energy efficiency and performance.
The scope of work has focused on the participant’s fields of expertise and basically covered the monitoring and analysis of component development and vehicle architecture relative to trends and strategies for EVs progress.
Thus, Task 17 included:
Impacts on the following aspects of system performance are being analysed:
Task 17 activities predominantly consisted of preparing a technology assessment final task report on trends and providing opportunities for member countries to exchange information.
Thus, working methods included:
The most common form was represented by workshops. They enabled the dissemination of information about relevant activities in an international context:
Electronic systems involved in the operation and monitoring of EVs have been the subject of substantial improvements during the past few years. Further optimization of these components and new concepts for their integration in the overall system tuned to the specific requirements of different vehicle applications is necessary.
From 2010-2015, Task 17 was working on the system optimization and vehicle integration of EVs to enhance the overall vehicles performance and successfully demonstrated that lightening the car, improving the electric power control unit, optimizing thermal management solutions, and improving the battery management system can help to improve the energy efficiency and the overall system performance of such a vehicle.
Mr. Michael Nikowitz
Austrian Agency for Alternative Propulsion Systems (A3PS)