Vehicle Sector Research Articles

High-rate Ni-rich single-crystal cathodes with highly exposed {0 1 0} active planes through in-situ Zr doping

Nickel (Ni)-rich cathodes with high energy density will play a crucial role in the rapidly growing electric vehicles sector. However, the large-scale application of Ni-rich cathodes is still limited by structural instability and severe capacity decay. Even though the construction design of single-crystal cathodes alleviates these defects, the sluggish lithium ion (Li+) diffusion between the larger single-crystal particles restricts its rate performance. We propose an in-situ zirconium (Zr) ion doping strategy to modulate the primary particle morphology of precursors and achieve their corresponding single-crystal cathodes with highly exposed {010} planes. The high percentage of {010} planes will deliver more Li+ diffusion channels and improve the transportation kinetics. Moreover, the homogeneous doping of Zr inside the bulk phase will significantly suppress the anisotropic shrinkage of c-axis and maintain an intact internal structure, thus preventing the accumulation of rock-salt phases. As a result, the Zr-doped single-crystal cathode exhibits excellent cycling stability, whether at 25 ℃ or 45 ℃. More importantly, the rate performance of cathodes has been remarkably enhanced after Zr modification. At the ultra-high rate of 10 C, it can maintain a high specific capacity of 121.4 mAh g−1 (81.8 % of capacity retention) after 250 cycles in the 3.0–4.3 V range.

The Motor Vehicles Industry in Slovakia, 2005 – 2015

This note examines the evolution of the Slovak motor vehicles sector during 2005-2015, drawing on the latest update (December 2018) of OECD's Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) model database. The review takes a global value chain (GVC) approach and looks at the linkages from the gross production and value added perspectives. The overall contribution of the motor vehicles sector to Slovakia's gross production and domestic value added increased twofold during the reference period. There was an ongoing change in the structure of the GVC linkages. The reliance on domestically-sourced inputs increased over the years. The (indirect) value added created in the production of domestically-sourced inputs gradually approached the level of the (direct) value added generated within the motor vehicles sector. Subsequent to the global financial crisis, the share of intermediate goods in exports, the forward linkage of the GVC, and the upstreamness of the production process were all on a rising trend. The sourcing pattern of imports of intermediate inputs and the market for exports steadily shifted away from the euro area towards non-EU countries. It is estimated that a hypothetical 10 percent negative shock to global final demand for motor vehicles would lower Slovak GDP growth by 1 percentage point.

When will China's passenger vehicle sector reach CO2 emissions peak? A life cycle approach based on system dynamics

The Chinese automobile industry is taking steps to reduce sectoral carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions by electrifying the passenger vehicle fleet in light of the carbon emission peak commitment. As most studies either focus on the fuel use or apply static inputs, there is a lack of dynamic fleet-based analysis considering every life-cycle phase. In this study, a hybrid life-cycle assessment is combined with a system dynamics model to simulate changes in the number of vehicles in different life-cycle phases in order to produce a more accurate estimation of sectoral CO 2 emissions and the peak time for the passenger vehicle sector. The detailed data on vehicle sales, in use, and disposal is collected, and a scenario analysis is constructed, considering two crucial factors: the future market share of electric vehicles (EV) and projected improvements in fuel consumption. The results indicate that for different market shares, peak time is estimated to be between 2029 and 2031, with sectoral CO 2 emissions peak ranging from 1196 to 1253 million tons. However, if fuel consumption does not improve as in the real world, the passenger vehicle sector will be unable to reach the CO 2 emissions peak within the simulation period, ending up with 1513 million tons by 2035, despite the sectoral CO 2 emissions curve appearing smooth in the simulation period's final years. These findings suggest that the market share of EVs has a modest impact on CO 2 emissions, and fuel consumption is more crucial for achieving the peak. There is a need to establish a public platform to monitor the gap between certified and real-world fuel consumption.

Digital Transformation: Implications of Novelty and Scope for Digital Technologies

Digital technologies are vital for firms’ activities in the digital age. This paper investigates digital technology groups and the implications of their technology novelty (incremental or radical) and breadth (one-sectoral or multi-sectoral) for digital transformation in manufacture intensive industries. Digital technology groups represent cohesive overlaps across individual technologies. Adopting a topic modelling research method of autonomous vehicle patents in firms operating in Sweden and a confirmatory survey with the inventors of those patents, this paper identified 26 digital technology groups transforming the autonomous vehicle sector. We find that digital technology groups are distributed across four technology paths: upgrading, spanning, transforming, and disrupting. Our findings suggest the ongoing digital transformation involves a creative accumulative response of incumbents and new entrants. This is developing new technologies outside existing capabilities and building on existing knowledge. This study bridges the previous literature on technological change and the characteristics digital technologies.

Compensation and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in international aviation

Abstract: Sustainable development, i.e. the coherence of economic and social progress with environmental protection, are goals that must be achieved in order to prevent global environmental degradation. Reducing the emission of harmful compounds and noise is a current problem raised in various sectors of the economy. Through the ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization, the aviation sector worldwide is committed to meeting its commitments to reduce air emissions from aircraft. Despite the dynamic development of the unmanned aerial vehicle sector, manned aviation remains the leading means of passenger and cargo transport in civil aviation. In view of the emission of compounds having a negative impact on the environment by airplanes, it was deemed necessary at the global level to take steps aimed at a real limitation of the functioning of aviation, which is destructive to the nature. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has developed a program that introduces a new approach to reducing negative effects on the environment called CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). The article presents the principles of its operation and implementation, as well as the project phases. The practical impact of the CORSIA program on aircraft operators and examples of costs for operators related to the implementation of the project were indicated. The aspect of mutual coexistence for the CORSIA program and the EU CO2 emissions trading system (EU-ETS) was also raised. European Emissions Trading Scheme - also known as the "Community carbon market" or the ETS. It is the first, by 2017, the largest and currently the largest, after China, CO₂ emissions trading system in the world. Keywords: CORSIA, EU ETS, CO2; Emission; Civil aviation; Sustainable development of aviation

Simulation of Vehicular Network Use in Emergency Situations and Security Applications on a Pakistan Highway

VANETs (vehicular ad hoc networks), which are revolutionary techniques to enhance road safety, can be used to broadcast information about dangerous traffic conditions or accidents. However, distributing important information for driver safety and well-being has strict time and reliability requirements. This is because messages must be received by all cars involved in a potentially dangerous scenario for proper precautions to be taken to avoid the problem from materializing or intensifying. Because of the deterioration in conventional wireless communication system performance, ensuring that such requirements are met is a serious concern. To validate the concept before the actual installation of such systems and their absorption into the vehicle sector, it is therefore critical to employ simulation methodologies that are both reliable and thorough. This piece consists of large-scale, realistic security simulation research of an emergency situation based on actual road traffic data acquired on a Pakistan route. The study’s findings are detailed in the following paragraphs. Aspects such as the incorporation of fixed communication units along a stretch of roadway and the performance of the vehicular network notifying all vehicles engaged in the various accident scenarios modeled on the same stretch of highway were evaluated. Both of these characteristics were designed to increase safety and security applications. After doing the investigation, it was observed that when fixed communication units are incorporated into the network infrastructure, there is a shorter delay in receiving the accident notification. This was the conclusion made after reviewing the findings. Drivers of vehicles located closer to the accident site will be able to respond in a timely and safe manner as a result of this improvement in network performance, and drivers security of vehicles located further away will have the option of exiting the highway to avoid potential congestion caused by increased road traffic.

Correlative Electrochemical-TEM Study: Probing the Pt Stability of Mesoporous N-Doped Carbon Supported Pt Nanoparticle ORR Electrocatalyst

In recent years, hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells have gained growing attention in the heavy duty vehicle (HDV) sector due to lower cost with increased driving range and lower refueling time compared to Li ion battery systems.[1] However, special requirements apply to HDV fuel cells such as long lifetime (25000 – 30000 h) at low Platinum loadings. Additionally, future Pt cathode loadings should be reduced from ≥ 0.4 mgPt/cm² (i.e. the current benchmark) to 0.25 mgPt/cm² by 2050, while a constant power density of 840 mW/cm² at 0.769 V should be achieved as defined by the US Department of Energy.[2]Despite Pt nanoparticles finely dispersed on carbon supports are considered the benchmark catalysts, the cathode is yet suffering from several degradation processes such as carbon corrosion, Pt nanoparticle detachment, agglomeration, dissolution and Pt redeposition, hindering the achievement of the aforementioned goals.[3, 4] Therefore, in-depth understanding of the electrocatalyst degradation mechanisms by which Pt losses its catalytic activity is required to develop optimized synthesis methods for stable materials. Recently, we developed novel mesoporous N-doped carbon (MPNC) supports with improved stability against carbon corrosion in comparison to a commercial reference carbon support.[5] Utilizing the advantage of such enhanced stability, we designed Pt/MPNC catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with an extended stability reaching over 10000 cycles in comparison to the commercial Pt/C catalyst, as revealed by the accelerated stress tests (AST) in acidic media and within the carbon corrosion potential range between 1 V and 1.5 V vs RHE.In the present study, we synthesized Pt/MPNC-T catalysts under different reduction temperatures to control the Pt nanoparticle size distribution. We then investigated the impact of the various sizes of the Pt nanoparticles on the stability of Pt/MPNC-T after AST cycles. Therefore, Rotating disc electrode measurements with an established Pt AST protocol using a square wave potential between 0.6 V and 0.95 V vs. RHE over 30000 cycles was applied.[1] The ORR activity, the electrochemical active surface area by HUPD and CO stripping experiments were measured at the beginning of the cycle life test, then after 10000 AST cycles and finally after 30000 AST cycles. The electrochemical measurements before and after AST of the Pt/MPNC-T catalysts were correlated with ex-situ TEM and aberration corrected (AC) STEM data. Experimentally, lower reduction temperature synthesis leads to broader Pt size distributions. Thereby, we noticed the presence of Pt nanoparticles with a diameter between 1 and 3 nm, and smaller Pt entities such as Pt atom clusters and single sites of Pt (i.e. Pt single atoms) at the beginning of cycling. By imaging the surface after 30000 AST cycles, the Pt nanoparticle size substantially increased and the amount of smaller Pt entities was drastically reduced. Such findings indicate that the major degradation process follows the Ostwald ripening mechanism.In conclusion such results reveal the importance of determining the structure-function correlations, which contributes to the general understanding of catalyst degradation processes and allows a knowledge-based optimization of these Pt/MPNC materials in future works.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ АВТОМОБІЛЕБУДІВНОГО СЕКТОРУ КИТАЮ

China's automotive industry is recovering rapidly in 2022 and is directly affecting the economies of many countries, and the electric car market is competing with the world's largest car companies and is the most promising for investment. Cars have revolutionized the concept of mobility, making it easier for goods and people to move around geographical regions than ever before. Over the decades, developed countries have witnessed how increased vehicle ownership and improved transport infrastructure have led to countering urbanization - the migration of people, businesses and industry from cities to the recently underdeveloped suburbs. This trend is spreading to emerging economies. There is one car for every five people worldwide; in the US there is one car for 1.25 citizens. However, in China, despite the 300 million cars per 1,000 people, there are only 173 cars. But, in 2009, the Chinese car market became the largest in the world, surpassing the US market in both sales and production. The automotive industry has provided 5% of the country's annual GDP annually since 2002, and accounted for 7.4% of GDP in 2010. Cars can improve the quality of life by increasing mobility, comfort and safety.
 For the Chinese society, the automotive industry has always been an attractive topic. On the one hand, this industry has long remained outside the system of state planning. Due to the emphasis on industrial capital goods rather than consumer goods, the passenger vehicle sector (including car manufacturing) has not been a key industry for decades, which is a typical Gerschenkron strategy of industrialization. It was only after China's "automotive policy of 1994" that car production was recognized as a national industry, along with the entire automotive sector. This, in turn, has led not only to an increase in the number of car factories, but also to a deterioration of the air in the country. This, of course, had an additional negative impact on people's lives, forcing them to leave the city to live in cleaner areas.

Efficiency analysis of BLDC motor for variable magnetic field

With the developing technology, direct current motors have been widely used in industrial applications. The limited use of brushed models in some areas has made Brushless Direct Current Motors stand out. In this paper, the design and analysis of an efficient, high power density, brushless direct current motor (BLDC) for use in electric vehicles is carried out. In this direction, studies have been carried out to reduce the reverse induced voltage, which is the biggest problem of electric motors in the electric vehicle sector. Analyzes were carried out with ANSYS subprograms, which realized a Finite Element Method (FEM) based solution to change the nominal values of the BLDC motor by changing the distance between the rotor and the stator. According to the results of the analysis, it was concluded that the method used in the study can also be used in high speed applications of brushless direct current motors.

Which “second-best” climate policies are best? Simulating cost-effective policy mixes for passenger vehicles

In the real-world of political opposition and complex market failures, carbon pricing alone will not achieve deep GHG mitigation targets. Hence, we search for the most cost-effective “second-best” policies. Focusing on the light-duty vehicle sector in the case of Canada, we compare several policies in terms of effectiveness (regarding 2030 GHG goals) and mitigation costs, namely: (i) a carbon tax; (ii) a vehicle emission standard (or VES); (iii) a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, and (iv) combinations of all three at various stringencies. In this effort, we apply the AUtomaker-consumer Model (AUM), which endogenously simulates consumer and automaker decisions and technological change. Comparing individual policies, the regulations are about three times more expensive than the carbon tax. Among “second-best” policies, the VES is cheaper than a ZEV mandate at lower stringencies, but at higher stringencies the two are similarly efficient (both incentivize widespread ZEV deployment). In policy mixes, cost-effectiveness is improved by a carbon tax. Specifically, inclusion of a CDN$100–150/tonne tax can achieve targets while being 30–40% less costly than a regulation alone. We suggest that policymakers implement carbon pricing as stringently as politically feasible (for efficiency), complemented by regulations as needed (for efficacy) to meet GHG targets.

An Analytical Study on Ratios Influencing Profitability of Selected Indian Automobile Players

Every country with a well-developed transportation network has a well-developed economy. The automobile industry is a critical engine of the nation's economic development. The automobile industry has significant backward and forward links with every area of the economy, as well as a strong and progressive multiplier impact. The automotive industry and the auto component industry are both included in the vehicle industry. It includes passenger waggons, light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles, as well as multi-utility vehicles such as jeeps, three-wheelers, military vehicles, motorcycles, tractors, and auto-components such as engine parts, batteries, drive transmission parts, electrical, suspension and chassis parts, and body and other parts. In the last several years, India's automobile sector has seen incredible growth in sales, production, innovation, and exports. India's car industry has emerged as one of the best in the world, and the auto-ancillary sector is poised to assist the vehicle sector's expansion. Vehicle manufacturers and auto-parts manufacturers account for a significant component of global motorised manufacturing. Vehicle manufacturers from across the world are keeping a close eye on the Indian auto sector in order to assess future demand and establish India as a global manufacturing base. The current research focuses on three automotive behemoths: TATA Motors, MRF, and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Experimental Investigation of Two Switching States of an Active Foil Bearing during Start-Up

The next few years will be marked by major changes in the mobility sector in order to come closer to CO2 neutrality. Especially in the commercial vehicle sector, fuel cells can make an important contribution. In order to achieve this, the efficiency of all subcomponents of a vehicle has to be improved. This also includes the bearings in the electrical air compressors. The frequent start–stop cycles are critical, as they can lead to higher wear and thus a shorter service life. One solution is a prototype that can actively switch between a triangular profile and a round bearing shape. In this work, the two switching states are investigated experimentally. Instead of the thin bearing sleeve of the prototype, rigid sleeves are used for each switching shape. This allows the shape itself to be studied without the contribution of the stiffness of the thin bearing sleeve along with the actuators. The examination includes static load tests and run-out tests in the range of the lift-off speed. Alongside this, the difficulties of the bearing production and the improvement of the test rig used are pointed out.

Acceptance of electric vehicles: A dual-factor approach using social comparison theory and technology acceptance model

This study intends to explore the acceptance of electric vehicles by adopting social comparison theory and Technology Acceptance Model. To fulfill the objectives of the study, 400 data were collected from a four-day auto expo event in India, and Structural Equation Modelling approach was used to analyze the data. The results show that informational influence, value-expressive influence, and product innovativeness showed a significant relationship with electric vehicle acceptance. Perceived usefulness signified a mediation effect on the relationships of informational influence, value-expressive influence, and product innovativeness with the electric vehicle acceptance. Further, positive moderation effect of age, income and gender was identified on the paths between perceived usefulness and electric vehicle acceptance. Holistically, the study produces significant contributions to the factors used in the study and the electric vehicle sector at large.

Utilization of Renewable Energy using V2H Technology

In recent years, the electric vehicle (EV) sector is growing day by day. Electric vehicles have various advantages as they are more powerful, does not emit pollutant gases like CO2, CO. It is possible to use solar energy to charge EV’s. EV’s can act as mobile power reservoirs. This paper analyses the capability of electric vehicles, in Vehicle to Home (V2H) scenarios, for which the vehicle acts as a residential battery storage system and/or a backup generator during a grid outage or more frequent short duration distribution system fault, similar to a stand-alone emergency generator. This paper also proposes the use renewable energy like solar energy to charge batteries of EV. During the S2V operation mode the batteries are charged from the solar with constant current. During the S2H operation mode the power is supplied back to the home. In the vehicle to home (V2H) operation mode the energy from EV’s batteries can be used to supply home loads during power outages and/or in emergency condition. The smart IOT based system, app is composed for monitoring battery charging state and switching modes to control system, where the relays control the switching action to adjust power supply modes.

Biomethane plants based on municipal solid waste and wastewater and its impact on vehicle sector in India — An Environmental-economic-resource assessment

Advantages of biomethane production from large-scale biogas plants include savings of fossil fuels, better waste handling, job creation, odor, and greenhouse gas reduction. For these reasons, the government has launched and promoted various waste-to-energy schemes to install large-scale biogas plants in India. However, methane leaks from various plant sources are problematic as they contribute to global warming and compromise the environmental benefits. This paper assessed the significance of bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) from large-scale biogas plants as a transportation fuel from an environmental and economic perspective. The results show that GHGs emissions of bio-CNG along its value chain (i.e., generation to utilization) are lower than other fuel options. If harnessed correctly, municipal solid waste and wastewater energy can replace 4053.47 tonnes of India’s diesel consumption per day. However, less than 2.5% of net bio-CNG potential is utilized in the current scenario. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis shows a 0.32 and 0.08 probability that emissions from bio-CNG are greater than diesel and petrol, respectively. Furthermore, there is an 83.15% chance that the bio-CNG business will make a profit. Also, a 0.83 correlation coefficient was found between compressed biogas (CBG) price and net present value (NPV). This study indicates the massive scope of biogas in the transportation sector. Thus, to achieve the goal, setting up large-scale biogas plants is much needed.

Silencer Design for the Control of Low Frequency Noise in Ventilation Ducts

The control of noise propagating along ventilation system ducts has always been an important issue in the building and vehicle sectors. This problem is generally tackled by selecting noise-reducing components with a suitable transmission loss, possibly verifying their effectiveness at a later time. The aim of this article is to characterize the nature of the problem and propose a design approach focusing directly on the perceived effect, that is, on the sound pressure level downstream of the outlet. Because the nature of the noise emission depends on various generation mechanisms, different methods can be applied. Usually, it is more difficult to realize good attenuations at low frequencies because of the limits of sound absorbing materials in such frequency range. For this reason, the ability of reactive components to attenuate the noise below the cut-on frequency will be investigated. This goal is reached by applying the transfer matrix approach to a duct system, with the implementation of the transfer matrices of each single element, and then assembling a system capable of acoustically describing the source and the duct structure. The coupling between the duct system with source and receiver impedances allows one to predict the sound pressure level at a given distance from the outlet. The proposed methodology is implemented in a user-friendly calculation tool with possible academic and professional application. Predictive capability, usability, and intuitiveness of the proposed design procedure are validated against experimental results by real potential users, who express positive feedback.

An automated method for the identification of interaction tone noise sources on the beamforming maps of counter-rotating rotors

Counter-rotating rotor configurations are considered more efficient than their single rotor counterparts. Consequently, the coaxially aligned rotors have appeared in the fixed-wing aircraft sector and are appearing in the quickly developing unmanned aerial vehicle sector, where they are expected to play a significant role, especially for long haul and heavy load configurations. As their noise levels have proven to be rather significant, the localization and reduction of the noise of such counter-rotating blade sets is a relevant topic of interest. One of the dominant contributors to counter-rotating rotor noise is interaction tones. Interaction tones appear at combinations of the harmonics of the blade passing frequencies of the two rotors and are significant throughout the spectra. In this paper, an automated method is presented that analyzes an entire series of beamforming noise source maps using principal component analysis-based methods in order to identify the dominant noise generation mechanisms in frequency bins that are associated with interaction tones. The processing technique is presented herein through the investigation of counter-rotating open rotor datasets developed for a fixed-wing aircraft configuration. With the proposed method, an objective mean has been provided for separating apart contributions from various noise sources, which can be automated, making the processing and investigation of large sets of measurement data rather quick and easy. The method has been developed such that the results of the analysis are easy to comprehend even without specialized prior knowledge in the area of counter-rotating rotor noise.

Assessing vehicle fuel efficiency using a dense network of CO<sub>2</sub> observations

Abstract. Transportation represents the largest sector of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in urban areas in the United States. Timely reductions in urban transportation emissions are critical to reaching climate goals set by international treaties, national policies, and local governments. Transportation emissions also remain one of the largest contributors to both poor air quality (AQ) and to inequities in AQ exposure. As municipal and regional governments create policy targeted at reducing transportation emissions, the ability to evaluate the efficacy of such emission reduction strategies at the spatial and temporal scales of neighborhoods is increasingly important; however, the current state of the art in emissions monitoring does not provide the temporal, sectoral, or spatial resolution necessary to track changes in emissions and provide feedback on the efficacy of such policies at the abovementioned scale. The BErkeley Air Quality and CO2 Network (BEACO2N) has previously been shown to provide constraints on emissions from the vehicle sector in aggregate over a ∼ 1300 km2 multicity spatial domain. Here, we focus on a 5 km, high-volume, stretch of highway in the San Francisco Bay Area. We show that inversion of the BEACO2N measurements can be used to understand two factors that affect fuel efficiency: vehicle speed and fleet composition. The CO2 emission rate of the average vehicle (in grams per vehicle kilometer) is shown to vary by as much as 27 % at different times of a typical weekday because of changes in these two factors. The BEACO2N-derived emission estimates are consistent to within ∼ 3 % of estimates derived from publicly available measures of vehicle type, number, and speed, providing direct observational support for the accuracy of the EMission FACtor model (EMFAC) of vehicle fuel efficiency.

Simulative investigation of FMCW based optical photonic radar and its different configurations

Intelligent transportation is becoming integral part of future smart cities where driverless operations may provide hassle free conveyance. Photonic radar technology is one such contender to deliver attractive applications in autonomous vehicle sector. In this paper we have discussed the basic principle of frequency modulated continuous wave photonic radar and their possible advantages. Further the basic detection scheme that is direct detection and coherent detection is explained mathematically as well as numerical simulations to understand the working is also carried out. The obtained result concludes that direct detection scheme provides minimal complexity in its architecture and is sensitive to received signal strength at the cost of thermal noise and poor sensitivity. On the other hand, coherent detection offers higher target range estimation as well as velocity measurement at the expense of increased system complexity.

Domestic deployment in the formative phase of the Chinese Electric Vehicles Sector: evolution of the policy-regimes and windows of opportunity

ABSTRACT China has been able to deploy electric vehicles at an unprecedented speed and scale. This paper explores the underlying policies during six years of sector formation, and it identifies a change in policy-regime after three years. The analysis of evolution of the policy-regimes indicates that creating, transferring, and sharing knowledge among the principal actors was key to catching up. The changing policy-regime enabled a minimum threshold of technology development required for deployment. Nevertheless, it was insufficient for pushing the sector to the global technology frontier. Key to the sector’s relative success was the government’s responsiveness to sectoral development and its ability to address production, demand, and knowledge issues simultaneously. In addition, it created synergies between policies designed to address environmental concerns and foster economic development concurrently. However, fast deployment required heavy subsidies and important policy initiatives came with potential pitfalls that may hamper international competitiveness of the sector.