Electric Road Research Articles

Brake blending and torque vectoring of road electric vehicles: a flexible approach based on smart torque allocation

Application of regenerative braking on electric vehicles has a large impact on several aspects of design, implemented functionalities and overall performances of road vehicles. In particular, multi-quadrant capabilities and improved control performances of modern electric drives can be fully exploited to improve vehicle efficiency, stability and overall environmental impact. Conventional, mechanical friction brakes are currently devoted not only to stop the vehicle but also to the actuation of safety related mechatronics systems such as electronic braking distribution (EBD), AntiBlockierSystem (ABS) and electronic stability control/program (ESC/ESP). The result is an over-actuated system of electrical (electric motors) and mechanical actuators (friction brakes), whose mixed, blended application has to be carefully optimised. In this work a simplified approach is proposed in which concepts transferred from previous studies on high speed trains and autonomous vehicles are re-purposed and adapted in an innovative way to electric road vehicles.

Electric Transportation in Pakistan Under CPEC Project: Technical Framework and Policy Implications

Transportation sector in Pakistan has been rapidly growing, leading to an increase in diesel and petroleum consumption, heightened energy import bill, air pollution, and traffic congestion. The China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) is a cluster of different multi-billion-dollar projects with a significant emphasis on enhancing regional connectivity, and the transportation sector is considered its backbone. Electric road transportation appears to be a game-changer to tackle energy, economy, and environmental issues of a country. This research paper is focused on a scheme and valuation of deploying electric transportation (e-trans) for mass transit under the CPEC umbrella in Pakistan. This paper identifies barriers and challenges and explores various technological options for adopting suitable electric vehicles (EVs) for mass transportation. The paper investigates technical infrastructural requirements, financial, and policy implications for the successful deployment of the proposed electric transportation. In particular, it proposes an EV charging infrastructure based on solar power generation to avoid any electricity burden to recharge EVs from the national power grid. In order to be comprehensive, it presents a case study to develop an EV charging station network with an estimation of the cost for accommodating charging requirements of one thousand electric trucks and hundred mobile charging trucks. Obtained results demonstrate that merely 0.29% of the CPEC's energy sector approved budget will be incurred for deploying the proposed charging station network to support e-trans over the studies road segment, which appears to be a feasible initiative. Important factors which may influence the proposed scheme for implementation of e-trans under the CPEC is analyzed using SWOT analysis. The recommended set of policies for deploying electric transportation and its quantitative financial analysis will help the concerned stakeholders to discover and execute the necessary steps to ensure sustainable electric transportation under the CPEC in Pakistan.

Adopting an Actor Analysis Framework to a Complex Technology Innovation Project: A Case Study of an Electric Road System

An electric road system (ERS) is a transportation solution that provides electricity for fully electric vehicles while in motion. This solution might contribute to sustainable transportation by overcoming range anxiety problems that fully electric vehicles, especially heavy vehicles, have encountered due to battery technology limitations. However, large-scale ERS implementations are challenging, both technically and socially. An ERS is not only an engineering project, but also a complex technology innovation system composed of multiple subsystems and stakeholders, which requires an interdisciplinary means of aligning relations, problems, and solutions. In the policy analysis domain, researchers have developed actor analysis methods to support policy making processes. Actor analysis methods can provide an analytical reflection in solving complex multi-actor policy making challenges that ERSs are also facing. To uncover the complexity of multiple subsystems and stakeholders involved in an ERS, this paper applied a method to align system characteristics with the stakeholders’ perceptions to understand multi-stakeholder contexts in complex technology innovation projects. Desk research was first conducted to summarise ERS characteristics. Then, the dynamic actor network analysis method framework was adopted to establish an action, factor, goal (AFG) list, which was revised by independent researchers. Next, the AFG list was used to collect the perceptions of the ERS stakeholders, expressed as AFG selections and causal links through stakeholder interviews. The resulting AFG list was iterated through two rounds of interviews and then validated in a Swedish ERS case workshop. The results from this methodology showed that the actor analysis method can not only be applied to policy analysis domains, but can also be applied to technology innovation complex systems, using the electric road system as a case study, to help uncover the ERS complexity from the concerns of stakeholders and to secure a pathway towards sustainable technology implementation.

Thermal Modeling and Analysis of an Alternating Short-Segmented Conductive ERS

The growth of electromobility emphasizes the need for good charging solutions. Electric vehicles can be charged either while standing still (static charging) or while in movement (dynamic charging) by using electric road systems (ERSs). In both cases, significant power levels are used to transfer energy to the vehicles, thus requiring a thermal design that is able to handle the losses generated while charging. This paper proposes a thermal model to assess the temperatures inside a particular type of ERS: an Alternating Short-Segmented ERS (ASSE). The thermal model is calibrated and validated against measurements on a test track with a full scale prototype. Measurements show that the ASSE can supply charging power in excess of 90 kW continuously. Peak power of 180 kW can be sustained for 10 min before the ASSE is at risk of overheating. Nonetheless, after high-power charging, the temperature of exposed surfaces may entail a safety hazard and the model can be used to design and evaluate potential corrective measurements to mitigate this.

Uncovering stakeholder influences in electric road systems using two assessment methods: The case of eRoadArlanda

In Sweden, Electric Road Systems (ERS) are gaining importance in the quest for sustainable solutions for road transportation. The main driver is the 2018 Swedish climate law that requires a 70% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 for domestic transport, excluding aviation, compared to the 2010 level. Due to the urgent need for change, the first decade of ERS evolution has been heavily focused on technological development towards a market-ready technology. Indeed, developing ERS technology is the priority of the two ERS demonstration projects on public roads in Sweden: eHighway E16 (inaugurated: 2016, status: ongoing), and eRoadArlanda (inaugurated: 2018, status: ongoing). Consequently, ERS literature reflects the empirical reality from an evidently technological focal point. However, the nature of ERS makes it a system of systems and couples a large number of stakeholders together, many of them with no previous collaboration. Thus, it is important to address ERS using a holistic focus, including social aspects.The aim of this paper is to uncover the interests and influences of different stakeholder groups in ERS development through the organisation of an ERS project as the unit of analysis. For the purpose of triangulation, the ERS stakeholders in the eRoadArlanda demonstration project have been studied in two separate studies at different points in time and using different methods prior to the comparison of findings. The first study uses interviews and an actor network analysis method to understand the ERS stakeholders' interests, influences, actions, factors and goals selections using causal maps, while the second study uses field data collection with interviews as the primary data source, as well as an iterative approach in order to discuss ERS stakeholders' interest, influence, contribution and motivation with those involved in eRoadArlanda. The findings show the different interest and influence of different stakeholders on ERS development. Further, concerns tend to differ between stakeholder groups, while contribution and motivation also vary among stakeholders within the groups.

An Urban Charging Infrastructure for Electric Road Freight Operations: A Case Study for Cambridge UK

An urban charging infrastructure for electric road freight operations is explored in this paper. The city of Cambridge, U.K. was chosen for demonstration but the same methodology could be used for other cities. The five Park and Ride bus routes, the refuse collection operations, and two home delivery operations are investigated. Data about existing operations were collected to define accurate drive cycles. Different vehicles are modeled for each operation and their performance is evaluated over the defined drive cycles. Different charging infrastructures are proposed for each operation to ensure that electric freight vehicles can be used for similar duty cycles as conventional vehicles. The additional power demand, additional load, capital cost needed, and the CO2 emissions savings for each case are calculated. The results are scaled up for the entire city and combined with estimated performance requirements for electrified urban deliveries. A complete urban charging network for road freight transportation at Cambridge would increase the power demand of the city by 21.6 MW (20.4% of the current peak) and the energy consumption by 50.6 GWh per year (6.3% of current consumption). The total capital cost is calculated at £149 million which is similar to the cost of other city's projects.

Electric Safety Challenges with a Conductive Electric Road System—Chassis Potential Modeling and Measurement

Conductive Electric Road Systems (ERS) appear as a promising solution for the electrification of transportation, particularly for heavy vehicles and long-distance trips but also for light vehicles. Significant research efforts are currently devoted to the development of conductive ERS systems, with up to four pilot test sites with different technologies in operation only in Sweden. With the help of electric models and experimental measurements on a pilot test track, this article assesses the potential safety challenges associated with one aspect of this technology: the absence of a reliable protective earth connection while the vehicle is connected to the ERS power supply. The results highlight the importance of monitoring the chassis potential at all times and the need of an active safety mechanism to disconnect the vehicle from the ERS supply if a severe fault occurs.

Large-scale implementation of electric road systems: Associated costs and the impact on CO2 emissions

This study investigates a large-scale implementation of an electric road system (ERS) in Norway and Sweden by identifying: (i) which roads; (ii) how much of the road network; and (iii) which vehicle types are beneficial to electrify based on an analysis of current road traffic volumes, CO2 emissions mitigation potential, and infrastructure investment costs. All the European (E) and National (N) roads in Norway and Sweden were included, while assuming different degrees of electrification in terms of the fraction of the road length with an ERS, prioritizing roads with high-traffic loads. The results show that implementing an ERS already for 25% of the E- and N-road lengths could result in electrification of 70% of the traffic on these roads, as well as 35% of the total vehicle kilometers in Norway and Sweden. The ERS will then connect some of the larger cities with ERS. Installation of ERS on all the E- and N-roads in the two countries would cover more than 60% of the CO2 emissions from all heavy traffic assuming all vehicles run on electricity. For roads with an average daily traffic of >6800 and >1200 vehicles per day, the costs of infrastructure investment are ∼0.03 €2016 per vkm and ∼0.15 €2016 per vkm, respectively. Thereby, for roads with high traffic volumes using an ERS, the total driving cost per km using an ERS (0.23–0.55 €2016 per vkm) does not seem to be an issue. Light vehicles appear to be important bringing down the ERS infrastructure cost.

Development of solid-state electrolytes for sodium-ion battery–A short review

Abstract All-solid-state sodium-ion battery is regarded as the next generation battery to replace the current commercial lithium-ion battery, with the advantages of abundant sodium resources, low price and high-level safety. As one critical component in sodium-ion battery, solid-state electrolyte should possess superior operational safety and design simplicity, yet reasonable high room-temperature ionic conductivity. This paper gives a comprehensive review on the recent progress in solid-state electrolyte materials for sodium-ion battery, including inorganic ceramic/glass-ceramic, organic polymer and ceramic-polymer composite electrolytes, and also provides a comparison of the ionic conductivity in various solid-state electrolyte materials. The development of solid-state electrolytes suggests a bright future direction: all solid-state sodium-ion battery could be fully used to power all electric road vehicles, portable electronic devices and large-scale grid support.

Should hybrid and electric vehicles have acoustic alerting systems?

Noise is an oft-overlooked environmental issue within densely populated regions. Vehicles, railways, and airports operating within or near cities are all contributing to the growing noise pollution problem—causing negative health and economic impacts. Due to this, it is of primary importance to make our cities quieter. The German Environment Agency is working on noise and its effects on humans, especially with respect to policy in order to make traffic as quiet as possible by addressing all the relevant elements from roads and tracks to vehicles, operational procedures, and measures along the sound propagation path. Europe, as well as most of the world, faces a future full of environmentally friendly hybrid or pure electric road vehicles. Concerns were raised that these low-emission vehicles could pose a risk to blind and low vision pedestrians. To address this concern, the European Union has legislated that future hybrid and pure electric cars must be equipped with acoustic vehicle alerting systems (AVAS). The presentation provides a critical assessment of the effectiveness of AVAS and of their negative side effects. Furthermore, it explores alternative non-acoustic approaches addressing aspects such as environmental protection, road safety, feasibility, and usability.

Demand Calculation Method for Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locating and Deployment

To develop, plan, implement and operate the electric road mobility system, especially the charging infrastructure, the existing and potential demand must be revealed for several time horizons. Accordingly, the aim of the research was to elaborate a calculation method for electric vehicle charging demand and to determine the public charging infrastructure locating principles. The research questions were: how many and what kind of vehicles will be used; where, when and how long they will be charged; what aspects and how influence the charging station deployment. The number of charging points to be installed, the energy demand and capacity management parameters can be also determined using the revealed correlations. The calculation method is adaptable to any territorial unit and any time horizon. It is the basis of charging station locating methods, which is demonstrated through two novel geoinformatics applications.

Keeping Track

The old adage of ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ may no longer apply to most motorsport series, but Porsche’s hybrid and electric road car programs are genuinely benefiting from innovations developed on the track

Impacts of electric vehicles on the electricity generation portfolio – A Scandinavian-German case study

This study investigates how electrification of the Scandinavian and German road transportation sectors under a stringent CO2 cap will influence investments in new electricity generation capacity up to Year 2050 and the dispatch of the electricity generation portfolio in Year 2030. We apply a cost-minimisation investment model and an electricity dispatch model of the Scandinavian and German electricity systems, assuming both optimised charging and a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging strategy for passenger electric vehicles (EVs). Different EV battery sizes and EV deployment levels are investigated in 11 different scenarios, whereby two of the scenarios include also electric trucks and buses using electric road systems (ERS). The results of the modelling show that with a cap on CO2 emissions, the additional electricity demand from an electrified road transport sector is met mainly by increases in the outputs from wind power and thermal power plants, in the form of coal in combination with carbon capture and storage. In Year 2030, wind power generation in Scandinavia and Germany increases by 7–30% depending on the EV scenario, as compared to a scenario without EVs, which corresponds to a few more percentage points than the increased demand from EVs in absolute terms. Furthermore, a V2G charging strategy for passenger EVs smoothens the net load curve and almost completely reduces the need for peak power capacity in the Scandinavian-German electricity system. The value of investing in solar power is also reduced in all the EV scenarios by 22–42%, as compared to a scenario without EVs. This is due to the fact that in Northern Europe solar power competes with EVs for peak power supply. ERS for mainly trucks and buses will increase the current load profile by up to 18 GW in the Scandinavian-German electricity system.

Game Changer

Mike Carcamo, Nissan’s global motorsport director, believes the OEM’s entry into the fifth season of Formula E will provide a welcome platform to further its electric road car program and spread the message of Nissan Intelligent Mobility

Hourly electricity demand from an electric road system – A Swedish case study

This study investigates the hourly electricity demand related to implementing an electric road system (ERS) on five Swedish roads with the highest traffic flows that connect the three largest cities in Sweden. The study also compares the energy demands and the CO2 mitigation potentials of the ERS with the use of carbon-based fuels to obtain the same transportation work, and extrapolates the results to all Swedish European- and National- (E- and N) roads. The hourly electricity demand along the roads are derived by linking 12 available measurement points for hourly road traffic volumes with 12,553 measurement points for the average daily traffic flows along the roads. The results show that applying an ERS to the five Swedish roads with the highest traffic flows can reduce by ∼20% the levels of CO2 emissions from the road transport sector, while increasing by less than 4% the hourly electricity demand on the peak dimensioning hour. Extending the ERS to all E- and N-roads would electrify almost half of the vehicle kilometers driven annually in Sweden, while increasing the load of the hourly peak electricity demand by only ∼10% on average.

Electric Roads: Analyzing the Societal Cost of Electrifying All Danish Road Transport

Electric Road Systems (ERS) have emerged as an alternative to deal with the main drawbacks that battery electric vehicles present (i.e., higher cost, short driving range, long charging times, etc.). This paper analyses the societal cost of electrifying all road transport in Denmark under four different scenarios. The first scenario considered in this study is based on today’s approach of having electric vehicles with high battery capacity and fast charging stations, the remaining scenarios study the cost of implementing different ERS at a national level. The results clearly show the benefits of implementing road bound electric road solutions that can be used both by commercial and passenger vehicles.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Ahead

From plug-in cars to trucks that roll along an “electric road,” the world of surface transportation is becoming increasingly electrified. Surges in both consumer interest and proposals to ban fossi...

On the Lightweight Structural Design for Electric Road and Railway Vehicles using Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites – A Review

The main challenging issues of vehicles with electric propulsion are on the limited energy source due to relatively low battery capacity and low excitation of power traction. They can be tackled down by designing lightweight structures for frameworks and bodies of the vehicles. Composite materials which have a high strength to weight ratio are the best choice for designing and manufacturing the lightweight structures. A review of recent progress in utilization of the composite materials for electric vehicle structures is presented. It focuses on how the structures can support the electric vehicles to compete with internal combustion engine vehicles regarding their performance on the road. The utilization of composite material for structures of railway vehicles is also summarized. Furthermore, discussions are extended to the key technologies required for applying the composite materials in Indonesia such as composite–metal joint technology, fiber and matrix production technology, and numerical analysis competency for modeling the composite.

Electric Road Systems: Strategic Stepping Stone on the Way towards Sustainable Freight Transport?

Electrification of the transport sector has been pointed out as a key factor for tackling some of today’s main challenges, such as global warming, air pollution, and eco-system degradation. While numerous studies have investigated the potential of electrifying passenger transport, less focus has been on how road freight transport could be powered in a sustainable future. This study looks at Electric Road Systems (ERS) in comparison to the current diesel system. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development was used to assess whether ERS could be a stepping stone on the way towards sustainability. Strategic life-cycle assessment was applied, scanning each life-cycle phase for violations against basic sustainability principles. Resulting sustainability “hot spots” were quantified with traditional life-cycle assessment. The results show that, if powered by renewable energy, ERS have a potential to decrease the environmental impact of freight transport considerably. Environmental payback times of less than five years are achievable if freight traffic volumes are sufficiently high. However, some severe violations against sustainability principles were identified. Still, ERS could prove to be a valuable part of the solution, as they drastically decrease the need for large batteries with high cost and sustainability impact, thereby catalyzing electrification and the transition towards sustainable freight transport.

Electric air roads: The projects of air-and-ground transportation systems

Electric air roads: The projects of air-and-ground transportation systems