FALL/WINTER 2005-06 — Vehicle Systems

Examining the Vehicle Mass Sensitivity of Advanced Vehicle Configurations

Advanced materials, including metals, polymers, composites, and inter-metallic compounds, can play an important role in improving the efficiency of transportation vehicles. Weight reduction is one of the most practical ways to increase vehicle fuel economy while reducing exhaust emissions. Using the Powertrain Systems Analysis Toolkit (PSAT), a CTR study examined the effect on fuel consumption of reducing vehicle mass for several advanced powertrain technologies, including internal combustion engine (ICE) hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) as well as fuel cell HEVs compared with conventional vehicles. CTR researchers assessed the impact of hybridization degree and vehicle platform.

The mass sensitivity of these vehicles was determined for two different cases:

When the maximum power of the drivetrain is fixed and the control strategy of the vehicle is unchanged;
When the maximum power of the drivetrain is recalculated to fix the performance, and the control strategy of the vehicle is unchanged.

Combined Fuel Consumption Gasoline Equivalent Variation Due to Mass Reduction (Mid-Size Vehicle – No Resizing)

The parallel vehicle was the most sensitive to a change in vehicle mass when the vehicle was not resized. The conventional vehicle was the most sensitive to a change in vehicle mass when the vehicle was resized for performance. The major factors influencing the sensitivity were fuel converter efficiency and regenerative braking.

The study details and results will be presented at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress 2006.

Sponsor

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program

Contact

Aymeric Rousseau

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