THE PROJECT
The mass deployment of electric vehicles has great potential to significantly reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, however, the current decade is regarded a key “make or break” period. Here, the development and quick market introduction of cost-effective/efficient as well as energy-efficient systems, sub-systems and components for electrified vehicles, in particular regarding transmission and energy storage, will play a central role. PHEVs, but also improved BEVs, can clearly mitigate range anxiety and “high price arguments” of consumers and will have a broad impact not least regarding environmental effects.
The flagship project eMPROVE will increase electrical range (to overcome the range anxiety of customers), provide cheaper and innovative components (to overcome the high price of vehicles argument of customers, while keeping comfort for the end users), and will reduce environmental impact (by both faster market entry of electrified vehicles replacing conventional ones and novel recycling / second life approaches for electrochemical storage systems).
In particular, eMPROVE aims at providing innovative solutions for the industrialization of electrified vehicles, focusing on the development and testing of energy-efficient and cost-effective/efficient subsystems and components, while taking into account possibilities for future industrial mass production.
Electrified transmission, ICE, and storage & energy systems will be analyzed, improved and evaluated. This is complemented by innovative research approaches (intelligent methods, processes and materials for energy systems as well as intelligent control mechanism for energy systems and transmission), improvement of existing series technology (battery analytics and modularization, heating & cooling of storage and energy systems), and basic vehicle development for subsequent overall vehicle integration.
Future possibilities of cost-efficient production of electrified vehicles are targeted by a flexible design for future PHEV powertrains enabling easier integration in larger classes of vehicle and modular HV battery modules enabling easier integration of battery elements in all vehicle classes.
In addition to this, recycling & second life of electrochemical storage systems offers new possibilities regarding costs and cost reduction in the field of producibility and beyond. The integration of the related requirements will basically change the criteria for product design and serial production of EVs, will lead to extended business models, business cases and decreased prices for the private customers and will have a clearly beneficial environmental impact (less energy consumption over the life cycle, optimum use of resources etc.)
Two integrated demonstrators, a PHEV full vehicle and a modularized battery pack system, at the end of the project will show tangible results and the functionality of the technological solutions created in eMPROVE.
Eventually, eMPROVE will offer an internationally competitive combination of performance capability with increased energy efficiency (range, comfort, safety) and cost-effectiveness/efficiency (mass production and recycling/second life of energy storage systems). Thus, eMPROVE is able to provide a main contribution to i) a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) serving as a volume model for the global market (planned market entry 2020) and ii) a modularized battery system pack for both BEVs and PHEVs, also for the global market (planned market entry 2019).
