Objectives
- Objective 1: Develop a vehicle fleet
- Objective 2: Demonstrate high safety for occupants and vulnerable road users
- Objective 3: Autonomous-capable vehicles
- Objective 4: Advanced low voltage powertrains
- Objective 5: Advanced energy storage and efficient charging at 48 V and 100 V
- Objective 6: Zone-partitioned Electrical and Electronic architecture
- Objective 7: Road testing
- Objective 8: Rapid implementation and affordability
Objective 1: Develop a vehicle fleet
Development of a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) covering most of the current and forthcoming needs, specifically:
- Three multi-passenger vehicles
- M1 type (4-wheel-drive, with two 15 kW 100 V air-cooled powertrains each), upgrade of an original design meeting the Japanese Kei cars homologation regulations
- High ergonomics, 4 doors, best-in-class for safety performance
- Remote control with the currently highest level of security
- Three multi-purpose vans covering the needs of many commercial uses:
- L7e-CU (4-wheel-drive, with 7.5 kW 48V air-cooled powertrains), with an upgraded N1 version (4-wheel-drive, with two 15 kW 100 V air-cooled powertrains, or two 15 kW 48V liquid-cooled powertrains). One vehicle will be for the transport of general purpose goods, two vehicles will address the delivery of food
- Implementing a step-by-step approach from the currently available Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems to conditional autonomy and full autonomy, through a special purpose robot food delivery van (equipped with the Mobileye and Nanomotion sensing platforms)
- All vehicle architectures sharing body frame using advanced steels, steel doors, modular battery packs for 50 V and 100 V, electric axle systems, electric steering, dashboard and info panel, front suspension system, EE architecture, interfaces for automated driving functionalities, auxiliaries, occupant safety and vulnerable road user protection as required for the M1/N1categories
Objective 2: Demonstrate high safety for occupants and vulnerable road users
Physical demonstration that the vehicles provide good crash resistance, by achieving the EuroNCAP 4- star car crash standards (improvements of the results of the European projects PLUS-MOBY and Steel-S4EV), including:
- Structure optimised to obtain an occupant load criterion lower than 40 g in the event of any frontal crash protocol included in the EuroNCAP tests or in the Regulation
- Structure designed to maintain integrity in the Regulation 95 test, without intrusion of the barrier inside the vehicle
- Improvement of the different elements of the restraint system (frontal and side airbags, steering column and seat belts)
- Optimisation of the frontal design of the vehicle to reduce the damage of vulnerable road users (VRUs) in the event of an accident
- Application of the electro-magnetic (EM) safety criteria against low frequency magnetic fields exposure defined in the European project EM-Safety
- Application of the battery safety criteria defined in the European project Demobase
- Implementation of a 4-wheel-drive (4WD) architecture for increased vehicle control and stability
- Structure to maintain stiffness along time. Accelerated fatigue tests will be performed to ensure durability
- Integration of the Mobileye’s forward looking collision avoidance system, headway monitoring warning and line departure warning, which will act as a “co-pilot”, by assisting drivers in challenging traffic scenarios
- Evaluation of the effect of Mobileye devices in different critical scenarios
Objective 3: Autonomous-capable vehicles
- Implementation of the state-of-the-art advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) by Intel-Mobileye into one of the passenger vehicle demonstrators
- Assessment of night vision functionalities and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities
- Integration of the Intel-Mobileye sensing platform with low-cost micro-gimbals, aiming at achieving sensing performance comparable to the current state-of-the-art based on the integration of Lidars with other sensors
- Demonstration that the integrated sensing and computing platforms can be potentially produced at lower costs than most competing products
Objective 4: Advanced low voltage powertrains
- 4-wheel-drive 100 V air-cooled powertrain based on state-of-the-art high-efficiency 350A Si-Mosfet inverters and 15 kW (nominal), 10000 rpm Permanent Magnet Assisted Synchronous-Reluctance motor, single-speed transmission system and open differential
- 4-wheel-drive 48V air-cooled powertrain with 7.5 kW motors, integrated Si-Mosfet inverters and novel low-cost belt-based transmission system
- All vehicle architectures sharing 4-wheel-drive stabilisation control (refinement of the results of the on-going EU GV project TELL), and a newly developed pre-emptive trail braking controller
Objective 5: Advanced energy storage and efficient charging at 48 V and 100 V
- Development of modular battery packs based on novel hybrid supercapacitor cells that do not need active temperature control or a battery management system (only monitoring)
- Demonstration that hybrid supercapacitor cells and packs can be conveniently produced in Europe, while competing in cost with the commercially available Li-ion solutions
- Integration of the battery pack into a lightweight highly insulated battery enclosure
- Demonstration of specific energy densities close to 200 Wh/kg at battery pack level
- Novel standardised high-efficiency chargers adopting Si and SiC technologies and suitable for the 48 V and 100 V powertrains
- Use of the EU standard connector and inlet for both AC and DC high efficiency low voltage charging
- On-board high efficiency smart photovoltaics with direct DC-DC connection to the high capacity battery (refinement of the results demonstrated in the European GV project PLUS-MOBY)
Objective 6: Zone-partitioned Electrical and Electronic architecture
- Automotive grade development of all electronic boards embedding the latest Infineon Aurix processors
- Implementation of optimal energy management functions, aiming at minimising energy consumption and loads, including the switching off of non-safety-critical functionalities (refinement of the results from the European GV projects PLUS-MOBY and Demobase)
- Implementation of the currently highest crypto secure communication level for remote upgrades and updates of the firmware
- Demonstration of predictive maintenance through the application of advanced AI methodologies
Objective 7: Road testing
- Experimental assessment of top speed, acceleration, gradeability, traction capability, drivability, energy consumption, range and stability in emergency conditions
- Step-by-step demonstration of functionalities from advanced ADAS to different forms of autonomy
- Assessment of the powertrain and vehicle stability controllers
- Evaluation of a novel pre-emptive trail braking control function
Objective 8: Rapid implementation and affordability
- Low-investments and low-cost manufacturing through the micro-factory concept developed by I-FEVS
- Demonstration of the light weight, modular, reconfigurable, flexible, agile and lean manufacturing technologies developed within the EU FOF project PERFORM
- Application of automotive grade procedures on cost and quality control
- Finalisation of the I-FEVS pilot micro-factory and detailed exploitation plan in other countries (Malta, Poland, Israel)
- Demonstration of competitive price positioning with respect to existing and forthcoming fully electric urban passenger and commercial vehicles