8 - 9 September 2021 I Digital Edition

ADS EVO helps automate electrified vehicle testing

The development of electrified vehicles (EVs) is advancing at a rapid pace due to tightening worldwide emissions regulations and the acceleration of electrification strategies. In the lab, these tests require more driving time to complete as each generation of EVs pushes the boundaries of range. Compared to traditional IC engine vehicles, a different driving automation approach is necessary. One that allows developers to evaluate an EV’s range and help with complex system evaluations for HEVs and PHEVs.

HORIBA is here to help. The new ADS EVO driving robot meets these complex and changing requirements. Its accuracy and reliability over long test periods, high traceability, repeatability, and easy installation make it ideal for the demands of EV testing.

INTRODUCTION

The automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation with new technological trends referred to as Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Services, Electric (CASE). These trends require new development approaches and the optimization of complex systems in the same or shorter time frames. It is also necessary to balance this against the need to comply with stricter environmental regulations and take into consideration the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test regime. In addition, the investment decisions made today must also factor in future regulatory developments and be future proofed.

ISSUES IN ELECTRIFIED VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT

The development of electrified vehicles is advancing at a rapid pace due to the tightening of worldwide emissions regulations and the acceleration of electrification strategies of various countries and companies. A different approach is needed to evaluate the range of electrified vehicles compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. It requires more vehicle driving time and therefore a solution is needed to maintain high driving accuracy over long periods of time.

The Need for Prolonged Testing

The test procedure to determine the electric energy consumption of pure battery electric vehicles is conducted by charging the vehicle’s batteries to full capacity and then driving the vehicle in a mode specified by regulations multiple times in succession to consume the battery’s energy reserves. The distance traveled until the vehicle is unable to continue operating in this mode is then recorded as the result. Each generation of electric vehicles are pushing the boundaries of vehicle range and this has a knock-on effect on the duration required to fully deplete a battery. This type of testing is resource intensive occupying test laboratories, equipment and personnel. In order to offset some of these challenges, the regulatory authorities have specified a test mode that can be used for the evaluation of vehicle range in a shortened timeframe. But a test with 500 km of range using this mode takes approximately 7 hours (Fig.1, HORIBA calculations).

*Estimated duration time for WLTP-STP cycle driving at HORIBA
Figure 1 – Duration time by electric vehicle range (our calculations)

The Need for Complex Systems Evaluation

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) that use both an internal combustion engine and a battery as power sources have large variations in fuel efficiency over specific driving scenarios depending on the strategy employed by the vehicle for a given condition.

The main variable of the strategy which is how much of the battery’s energy is used during a particular part of a drive sequence (or test cycle, in the case of laboratory testing). For example, if a greater proportion of the test was conducted using the battery’s electricity energy then the result will show a lower fuel consumption than if the vehicle had used more energy provided by the internal combustion engine system (Fig.2). Therefore, it is necessary to examine the correlation between a vehicle’s battery energy balance, the vehicle’s energy strategy and the vehicle’s fuel consumption. In order to do this kind of assessment a huge number of test runs are usually required to be performed to determine the correlation. Furthermore, the correlation is poor if there is variability in the way the vehicle is driven, so a highly reproducible drive with as little variability as possible is desirable.

Figure 2 – Correlation between battery energy balance and fuel consumption

IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT WITH THE ADS EVO

The ADS EVO driving robot (Fig.3) supports the automation of vehicle driving for a range of different testing scenarios and produces several benefits which enhances the effectiveness of vehicle product development.
High repeatability and consistency during long tests enable customers to investigate durability issues, monitor the impact of a prolonged operation in a given vehicle mode or complete several tests back to back reducing overall laboratory time.

Its high accuracy combined with its repeatability provides confidence in the test results and reduces the influence of driving inputs. Comparisons can therefore be made more easily between different test regimes, controls strategies and system designs to optimize the final solution. For example hybrid vehicle fuel consumption and energy balance can more easily be correlated. An additional benefit of this is the reduction in the number of tests required which may otherwise be needed to account for variance in driver input.

The ADS EVO can support test laboratory correlation and improve the reproducibility of tests across a customer’s test laboratory network. The self-learning function combined with the ability to save the setup parameters means the ADS EVO robots stationed at other test laboratories can share the same setups and help achieve a high correlation between test facilities across the globe.

In addition, HORIBA has significantly improved the installation of the ADS EVO by reducing the weight of each unit. This improves test laboratory efficiency by allowing quicker vehicle changes and test preparation. It also has a flexible system architecture that allows for additional appendages to tailor the robot to particular vehicles.

Figure 3 – ADS EVO mounted on driver seat

SUMMARY

As vehicle development efforts are rapidly increasing due to the diversification of power sources, stricter environmental regulations, and the increasing complexity of systems, it is important for vehicle manufacturers and related industries to develop vehicles more efficiently. As mentioned, conventional vehicle testing methods are facing various challenges to improve efficiency, such as the increase in duration time and number of tests. The ADS EVO, a driving robot with high traceability, repeatability, and easy installation, solves these problems and contributes to the efficiency of customers’ vehicle development.

Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, the HORIBA Group is a global leading supplier of measurement technology and systems for various fields from automotive testing, process and environmental monitoring, in-vitro medical diagnostics, semiconductor manufacturing and metrology to scientific R&D and QC measurements.

HORIBA Ltd.
2 Miyanohigashi Kisshoin Minami-ku Kyoto, Japan

HORIBA Europe GmbH Hans-Mess-Straβe 6
61440 Oberursel Germany

HORIBA Instruments Inc. 5900 Hines Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA

Crossing the RUBICON to a Sustainable Future: A new perspective on urban transportation

A key criterion of success in business is to anticipate trends, catch waves and ride them. Change is inevitable and we all want to change our business practices and models in line with the changing world, to be ready for or ahead of the change rather than lagging behind. But what will the future of the automotive industry look like, and are the rules of the game about to change?

A key criterion of success in business is to anticipate trends, catch waves and ride them. Change is inevitable and we all want to change our business practices and models in line with the changing world, to be ready for or ahead of the change rather than lagging behind. Market predictions are a standard fare of industry publications and conferences such as CTI. Impressive presentations predict with great precision (often to less than 1% of market share) the share of ICE/HEV/EV some 10, 15, 20 years hence.

One feature of these predictions is also that the volume of global passenger car sales will continue to grow – 60, 80, 120 million cars per annum. It goes without saying that these predictions are based very much on ‘business as usual’, i.e. passenger cars being purchased by private individuals who drive them for business and leisure, but which sit idly for most of each day. After 7-10 years, a moderate number of miles are accumulated, the outdated-looking vehicle is deemed unworthy of maintenance once a major system needs replacing, and the vehicle is scrapped, along with all the other (still functioning) systems. It is replaced by a re-styled version of the previous vehicle, whose cost, appearance and performance are optimised at the point of sale.

This is the business model on which all our plans are based. Requirements are cascaded from this to inform the design of future vehicles, systems and components, with engineers across the world diligently looking for ways to make improvements within this framework.

But what if the future does not look like this? What if the rules of the game are about to change?

In his report, “Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030: The Disruption of Transportation and the Collapse of the ICE Vehicle and Oil Industries”, Stanford economist Tony Seba argues that a number of different trends will come together to substantially reduce the proportion of car ownership and hence the number of cars being manufactured.

Seba predicts a scenario with Transport as a Service (Taas) (also referred to as Mobility as a Service – Maas) being available through the approval of autonomous vehicles (AVs), which will be electrified as opposed to ICE-driven and result in a 10x increase in the distance per vehicle over its lifetime, most likely to 1m miles. These vehicles will see much higher utilisation than the current fleet that spend most of their time in car parks or on drives. Car ownership and hence vehicle production will plummet.

Seba goes beyond qualitative predictions to make some startling quantitative predictions.

He predicts that the cost per mile of this new mode of transport will be much less than that for car ownership – four to ten times cheaper per mile than buying a new car, and two to four times cheaper than operating an existing vehicle in 2021.

His prediction is that TaaS will provide 95% of the passenger miles travelled within 10 years of the widespread regulatory approval of AVs. By 2030, individually owned ICE vehicles will still represent 40% of the vehicles in the U.S. vehicle fleet, but they will provide just 5% of passenger miles.

American roads will drop from 247 million to 44 million, opening vast tracts of land for other, more productive uses. Demand for new vehicles will plummet: 70% fewer passenger cars and trucks will be manufactured each year.

It goes without saying that this paints a very different picture from other reports. A 70% drop in production indicates 30 million cars per annum in 2030 as opposed to 120 million. As engineers, we often accept tolerances and variances, but this is something different!

Now, there are clearly obstacles to such a scenario becoming reality, not least the full development of truly dependable autonomous vehicles. However, the automotive industry is developing CAVs on the basis that it is a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ this is achieved. Are the foundations of our current business models as firm as those of, say, Kodak, who dismissed out of hand the idea of digital photography when it was presented to them in 1975?

It is on this basis that Romax Technology decided to set up a research project to investigate the possibility that the business model of personal transport will change.

It proposes the hypothesis that in the future instead of private cars, taxis and buses, personal transport within a given city is provided as a service by small, autonomous electric vehicles. These vehicles will have high utilisation (~80%) and thus potentially acquire high mileages (~1m miles) within a few years. It will make sense to have the vehicle engineered to a higher level of durability, such that a single passenger car should be able to cover approximately 1m miles, engineered with a similar level of integrity to commercial trucks.

The combination of no driver, high vehicle mileage and high utilisation makes the total cost of ownership and operation attractive, both economically and environmentally. This means that it is a viable business model which will compete with and displace conventional urban modes of transport.

The project RUBICON (ultRa-dUraBle electrIC pOwertraiNs) was set up to investigate whether this scenario is viable. Whereas Tony Seba concentrated on the economics, this project would expand on the engineering challenges and the environmental benefits.

The project, started in November 2020, is funded by Innovate-UK and led by Romax Technology, with Cenex and Empel Systems joining the collaboration. It starts with the assumption that autonomous vehicles (will) work because, as stated, the automotive industry is working on the basis of ‘when’ and not ‘if’, and this subject is studied extensively within its own field.

RUBICON goes on to study the economic and environmental impact of operating a fleet of autonomous taxis in and around a major city. Finally, it considered aspects around making the vehicles substantially more durable than the current designs. Rather than studying the whole vehicle, it focusses on the powertrain and considers what would be needed to raise the durability of the vehicle to a level suitable for its increased life, and what would be the economic and environmental benefits.

The project therefore has a multi-faceted approach – engineering, economics, environmental. It is not possible to answer all the questions in full detail on all three areas, but the project has aimed to cover the major points in all these areas to a reasonable degree of detail. This is akin to the ‘concept design’ of a gearbox – not all the details and tolerances are defined, but the killer questions should have been answered.

The key learnings to date will be presented at CTI US by Barry James, Head of Research and Innovation at Romax Technology, part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. The nature of the audience means that the key focus will be on the engineering, but headlines concerning the environmental and economic analysis will also be presented.

The key measures are the total lifetime (accounting for both manufacturing and operation) cost and CO2 per passenger mile. Feeding into this analysis are the investigations into the cost/benefit/feasibility of making various powertrain components substantially more durable, plus an illustration of the sort of fleet size, number of journeys and variation in journey distance, taking recorded data from London as inputs.

The hypothesis is that private car ownership will be replaced (in cities at least) by transport-as-a-service being provided by autonomous taxis, supported by details which assess whether this could be valid. Many attending CTI US will be ‘petrol-heads’, emotionally attached to the idea of a private car being a public expression of someone’s personality. However, putting aside personal preferences, if such a model is economically viable, feasible from an engineering point of view and environmentally less damaging, then it is a potential future scenario for the automotive market that needs to be taken seriously.

Hexagon is a global leader in sensor, software, and autonomous solutions. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, and quality across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, safety, and mobility applications. Our technologies are shaping urban and production ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous – ensuring a scalable, sustainable future.

Romax, part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, provides world-leading solutions for the design, analysis, testing and manufacture of gearboxes, drivetrains, and bearings. Learn more at romaxtech.com

CTI SYMPOSIUM USA 2021 – Agenda out now

The CTI SYMPOSIUM USA 2021 focusses on the Path to Net-Zero Emission. Exclusive speeches by Ford, GM, Stellantis, MIH Foxconn, Navistar Inc VIA Motors will share latest insights in strategies and technologies on 8 and 9 September. On 8^th September OEM representatives from USA and ASIA will discuss about the current Battle between BEV and Hybrid.
On 9^th September an supplier panel will debate if 100% BEV is a reality for the future.

Audience is invited to address their questions and comments throughout the program to the experts.

You will be able to select your individual program out of 12 technical deep dive sessions.

Hundreds of international experts will gather at one place and you benefit from this exchange of knowledge and opinions right away.

Plus: we have a great, easy & fun meeting tool for you to connect with peers 1:1 or in groups quite similar to our floors. No more boring meetings!

Be part of it either as delegate or exhibitor.
Get your industry updates, meet the experts and generate business at CTI SYMPOSIUM USA 2021.

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