Overview
Problem statement & initial situation: Pure electric motorcycles will be in the future a key factor for the individual mobility. An essential requirement is anyway the safe design and integration in the vehicle of the Electrical Energy Storage (EES).In order to provide that, the EES and the vehicle are actually however separately developed. A common practice is the introduction of an electric drive into an existing concept, mostly with minor adjustments. However, this leads to an over dimensioning of the assemblies of the EES and of the vehicle too. Moreover, the same functions are separately and doubly fulfilled. Therefore, an optimisation potential can emerge. This potential, still undefined, is extremely important to be competitive against other forms of mobility.
Goals and methods: The main goal of this research project is the definition of the potential for the weight reduction and increase of the functions fulfilment grade by an optimised design and integration of the EES into road motorcycle. This type of investigation is actually in national as international research project still undeveloped. The first step is an analysis of the functions of an EES and their partition into the different components. Further the components, which fulfil similar functions, will be fused, in order to define an early optimisation potential. In the second phase thanks to the established methods the EES will be integrated into a concept vehicle through iterative optimisations, in order to define also the potential for possible innovative integration solutions. The optimisations delineate the basis for the definition of the theoretical potential for the increment of the functionality and reduction of the mass, with the related positive influence in the range of the vehicle.
Findings and results: This industrial research project aims to define the theoretical potential for the reduction of the weight of an electric motorcycle by an optimised design and integration into the vehicle of the EES. A benefit of the weight reduction is the increase of the vehicle range. A mass reduction by 10% will raise the range up to 5%, but the main advantage is that therefore more cells can be integrated in the vehicle with a range increase and furthermore a decrease of the costs of the energy storage capacity. In fact, the electronic components needed for a correct operation of the EES are mostly independent from the storage capacity of the system itself. Moreover, these components cover a high percent of the costs of the system. Therefore, the increase of the energy storage capacity will lead to a decrease of the cost per kWh of the system.