TED

Transport related emissions and urbanisation are creating an unparalleled demand for less polluting and efficient means of moving. Tackling the challenge is imperative and it calls for comprehensive understanding of the landscape, its every aspect and innovative mindset. It is a well-known fact that electric vehicles are a big part of the solution (combined with renewable energy production). We aim at developing and demonstrating an innovative, modular vehicle concept that is just perfect for the urban needs: zero emission, compact, safe and rightsized for the mission. Furthermore, we aim at intensifying the utilisation of the vehicles through versatile designing to promote, e.g., multipurpose usage and shared concepts. The key technical innovations of our RECONFIGURABLE LIGHT ELECTRIC VEHICLE, REFLECTIVE, vehicle are: 1) modular, scalable, electric powertrain and reconfigurable interiors fit from L7 quadricycles to M1/A vehicles; 2) supreme structural and active safety proven in Euro NCAP crash test and real life experiments of our L7 demonstrator vehicles; 3) added usability and comfortability through adaptable charging solution combining conductive and wireless charging and limited automated features. To conclude, we aim at introducing a L7 demonstration vehicle that meets the highest quality and safety standards with an affordable price making it an irresistible choice for any urban environment and use case. No such solution exists at the market and our primary aim is to bridge this gap.

Within this project a new compact and efficient high speed 30-50 kW electrical machine will be integrated with an efficient fully SiC drive and a gearbox within a powertrain traction module. The electrical machine will have a dry rotor direct liquid cooling system integrated with the cooling system for the SiC drive. This traction module can be mechanically coupled with an axle of a low performance electric/hybrid vehicle, or several units could be coupled directly with the wheels for a high performance vehicle or a light-duty vehicle or a bus. Economic feasibility of mass-manufacturing of different electric machine topologies will be studied to choose the best trade-off between performance, manufacturing cost, and efficiency in the selected performance range. Feasibility of direct drive, single stage, and two-stage switchable high speed gearboxes will be studied as well. The resultant powertrain traction module will be an optimal trade-off between efficiency, manufacturability, and cost, utilizing newest technologies in electrical machines, power electronics, and high speed gearboxes. We will demonstrate the scalability of the solution by embedding several powertrain modules on board a test vehicle.