MASS MANAGEMENT OF A HIGH ENERGY-EFFICIENT BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLE

The paper presents a detailed analysis of the mass-induced power demand of an ultra-efficient battery electric vehicle. The vehicle belongs to a special class of lightweight quadricycles, designed for participating to efficiency competitions. The influence of reducing the mass of the entire vehicle and the mass of the wheels on the vehicle energy consumption is assessed. A sensitivity analysis is performed by exploiting a “tank-to-wheel” multi-physics model of the vehicle. The model includes the main vehicle subsystems and the principal sources of power dissipation are modelled. A three-step sensitivity analysis is carried out: firstly, the influence of the mass reduction on the energy saving is analysed for two different race tracks; then, two different driving behaviour on the same track are compared; finally, the potential energy saving due to actual lightweighting interventions performed on the vehicle is computed. In this phase, secondary mass reduction effects (battery downsizing) are included in the simulation. Results are expressed in terms of Energy Reduction Value (ERV), a parameter widely used in the literature to quantify the correlation between mass reduction and energy saving. The vehicle studied in this paper shows an ERV due to vehicle mass reduction ranging from 0.23 to 0.36 kWh/(100 km∙100 kg), while wheel lightweighting leads to an ERV ranging from 1.03 to 1.74 kWh/(100 km∙100 kg).