Optibody Project: Optimizing Vehicle Structures for Electric Light Trucks and Vans

Abstract

The OPTIBODY project is focused on developing new modular structure architectures for electric light trucks and vans (ELTVs) which will improve the passive safety of the vehicle to help reduce the number of fatalities and severe injuries. The new concept will develop a structure composed of a chassis, a cabin that includes improved levels of comfort, protection and ergonomics of the user, a number of add-ons that provide protection in case of impact or rollover and also covering the topic of crash compatibility, including a good amount of the interaction with vulnerable road users. To achieve the objectives, an initial analysis of the ELTVs that are found on today’s markets is being made. Selected markets include Europe, U.S.A., Japan and Australia Together with an in-depth review on accidentology of these vehicles and a state-of-the-art research, a basis of requirements will be established. This is the starting point of the project, from which the first results have delimited the study to only L7e category vehicles (light urban delivery vehicles). These requirements will include legal aspects to be covered in the terms of passive safety, homologation, reparability and the integration of structural add-ons for added safety. Special attention is paid also to energy storage solutions, frontal and lateral compatibility, new design guidelines adequate to feasible solutions and new materials and processes. All the work is focused on improving all aspects considering the incoming electric vehicle technologies, which can be adequately applied in a very near future. All the work done will be exemplified at the end of the project by the demonstration of the designed add-ons and systems with a pilot demonstrator vehicle. This vehicle will show the developed chassis and cabin concept, complemented by different add-ons that could be utilized throughout different markets. Complimentary, the entire process is to be documented and a specialized publication with the best practices will be made available to the interested public, especially designers and vehicle manufacturers. With this attempt, the OPTIBODY project will provide new and improved safety systems for a segment of vehicles which do not take into account the same requirements as “regular” N1 category vehicles and which have shown to have a large percentage of fatalities on the road, including pedestrian incidents. This study has been limited to a selected type and category of vehicle, the L7e category (in Europe). The characteristics of these vehicles make them quite unique, since their low weight and low power make them apt only for urban driving and are widely used by goods delivery companies, urban services, etc. the requirements for their homologation are lower in terms of structure and safety, including pedestrian protection, hence the objective of this project to improve protection for occupants and vulnerable users. High accident rates with fatalities and severe injuries have been found for these vehicles. The OPTIBODY project is a pioneer enterprise in terms of improving safety in selected vehicle categories which have been traditionally less developed than regular cars or heavy goods vehicles. This approach will lead to an improvement in safety for all road users while interacting with these urban vehicles, which have less strict requirements than the rest. It is important to adequately design a chassis and body for the new upcoming electric technologies which now pose different risks in various aspects, such as energy storage, dynamics and accident behaviour. In general, the approach taken during this project will generate new and innovative ideas on the way that vehicles are designed and built with the use of electrical energy for their power. The risks of electrical mobility are being tackled as we speak, and the technological solutions that will be developed will improve the safety on our roads.