Concept of the multi-level thermal and energy management strategies

In the last period the concept of the multi-level thermal and management strategy has been provided. The strategies are an integration of high-level planning features (Eco-routing, Range Estimation, Assured Charging) and lower level control strategies (eco-driving, thermal management and smart fast charging) that work together to achieve energy gains or time gains for long distance travel. How these features integrate into a multi-level optimization have been registered in a functional architecture that comprises of the function blocks with interfaces.

The process of drafting the functional architecture led to the identification of the need for a supervisory feature. This feature is called the Trip Itinerary Planner. The features have been developed for a generic vehicle, which is parametrized based on an electric vehicle with generic characteristics according to descriptions of the demonstrator vehicle used and calibrated accordingly with in-house data. The features have been tested and demonstrated energy and-or time gains for the generic case in simulation. In follow-up, these features will be tailored to the demonstrator vehicles and will be tested for those vehicles specifically.

CEVOLVER front-end is added to Mobicloud to demonstrate the Eco-routing web service by comparing the fastest route with the Eco-Route

Implementation of SW/HW architecture to a web server and vehicle validator communication

The current-generation electric vehicles have made significant progress during the recent years; however, they have not yet achieved the user acceptance needed to support broader mainstream market uptake. These vehicles are generally still too expensive and limited in range, particularly at very low and high ambient temperatures, to be used as the first car for a typical family. Long complete charging times and uncertainties in range prediction are additional barriers to broader market diffusion.

Advanced features such as optimal thermal management, eco-routing with assured charging functionality (also called eco charging) and eco-driving, will also rely on connectivity with the cloud. On one hand, by contributing to reduce the energy consumption, positively impacting on the vehicle range and, on the other hand, by supporting to increase user confidence in electric vehicles.

Within the Cevolver project, it will be demonstrated that, when needed, also long-trips are achievable without further increases in battery size that would lead to higher cost and vehicle weight (penalizing the specific energy consumption and, particularly for light commercial vehicles, the payload). The driver is guided to DC partial fast-charging infrastructure along the route whenever required to ensure sufficient energy is available for the vehicle for charging along the route to complete the trip minimizing the additional time needed for the overall trip. The efficient transferability of the results to further vehicles is ensured by adopting a methodology that proves the benefit with an early assessment approach before implementation in demonstrator vehicles.