ADVICE

ADVancing user acceptance of general purpose hybridized Vehicles by Improved Cost and Efficiency

In the light of climate change and global warming the European Union tries to decrease the CO₂ emissions of passenger cars by setting respective limits. Therefore the automotive industry extends its portfolio of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). Nevertheless their market penetration is still relatively low due to a significant cost premium for end users compared to conventionally driven cars.

The ADVICE project aims at increasing the number of sold HEVs by reducing the costs and complexity of hybrid architectures. At the same time decreasing CO₂ emissions not only under testing conditions but also in real driving situations is one of the key targets. These objectives will be achieved by multiple measures. On the one hand downsizing of the ICE, implementation of innovative transmissions and waste heat recovery systems as well as integration of high temperature electric components will contribute to these goals. On the other hand advanced predictive control strategies for energy and thermal management will lead to a powertrain system optimization including improved aftertreatment operation and use of auxiliary systems. Opportunities for cost reductions by technical simplification of engine and transmission systems as well as lower cost energy storages are investigated.

In addition the driver is advised towards a more ecofriendly behavior by two predictive control strategies: Eco-Routing and Eco-Driving. Eco-Routing provides a minimal energy navigation function taking into account cloud information like traffic and weather conditions. The Institute for Automotive Engineering RWTH Aachen University (ika) supports the function development with an offline validation of the energy demand using traffic simulation. Eco-Driving advises the driver with an optimal speed regarding the given route and environmental conditions via a visual and acoustic HMI, which will be developed by ika.

Three demonstrator vehicles are built to showcase the project achievements. They range from mild-, full- and plug-in-hybrid architectures with gasoline and diesel combustion engines.