Overview
Road transport is the second largest EU producer of CO2, one of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. While some improvements in efficiency of road vehicles have been achieved, continued growth in traffic and congestion mean that CO2 emissions from road transport have grown. At the same time rising fuel prices and supply instability also give pressure for increased efficiency. The EC has set targets for the average CO2 emissions of new vehicles to be 120 g/km by 2012, with further reductions needed to achieve a 40% reduction in CO2 from light passenger vehicles by 2020.
The objective of EE-VERT was to develop technologies that play a key role in achieving these goals.
Despite improvements in individual areas of the modern vehicles such as power train, a considerable amount of energy is wasted due to the lack of an overall on-board energy management strategy. Further electrification of auxiliary systems (the 'more electric vehicle') promises energy and efficiency gains, but there is a need for a co-ordinated and predictive approach to the generation, distribution and use of energy.
In the state-of-the-art, power is generated with little knowledge of the actual loads, and some systems (both electrical and mechanical) consume power continually, regardless of demand. The introduction of systems such as alternator set-point control and EPAS are first steps towards optimising energy use but such systems operate in isolation.
This project will produce strategies in conventional vehicles, also applicable to hybrids, for overall energy management (thermal and electrical) to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Also, the need for the strategies to guarantee power supply to safety-related systems will be considered. It is estimated that EE-VERT technologies can reduce CO2 emissions by around 10% for a car. For a large vehicle savings of around 40% of the CO2 that is created by an auxiliary system such as climate control is possible.
Funding
Results
NOTE: final results have not yet been made public in June 2013.
The actual savings experienced will depend on the driving conditions, the energy management strategy applied and the behaviour of the driver. However, initial indications suggest that the amount of energy saved should exceed 10%.
Simulation work carried out by the partners indicated that average fuel savings of around 8-9% for real life driving cycles could be found, rising to 17% when the start and stop functionality is applied. The final phase of the project, testing the demonstrator car, will confirm the potential fuel saving benefits of the EE-VERT concept.
Innovation aspects
Much energy in conventional vehicles is wasted due to the lack of an overall on-board energy management strategy. Some systems consume power continually regardless of demand. By bridging the gap in the market between current conventional vehicles and Hybrid (HEV) or Full (EV) Electrical Vehicles, the EE-VERT project offers an innovative solution to this problem.
Central to the EE-VERT concept is electrification of auxiliary systems and forming an overall energy management strategy. Break energy will be recuperated, waste heat will be recovered and solar cells will be used to create eletrified energy.
To minimise additional costs, the EE-VERT concept retains the majority of the existing components. Furthermore, improved efficiency and power is achieved by a generator operating at 40V. To enable the elements of the standard electrical system to be connected, a new architecture has been devised that works with a variety of voltage levels.
By combining the components, up to 10kW of generator power can be made available during recuperation.
Policy implications
Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Full Electric Vehicles (EV) currently offer good CO2 savings. However, their market penetration is slow. Thus conventional vehicles (having relative high CO2 emiisions) are likely to play a significant role for the foreseeable future.
The EE-VERT project bridges the gap between current conventional veheicles and Electrical Vehicles (HEV and EV) by improving on-board energy management in conventional vehicles, combined with electrified auxiliary systems (e.g. break energy, solar panels). To minimise costs, the majority of existing components in conventional vehicles should be retained. The new components will be added and integrated.
Policy objectives
Innovating for the future (technology and behaviour): Promoting more sustainable development