Electric vehicle drive systems are too expensive and bulky for mass-market cars, and this project aims to cut both problems by redesigning how the motor and power electronics work together. The core barrier to electric vehicle adoption is not battery cost—it is the electrical drive train, which currently costs more than a petrol engine. The researchers have split the problem into six technical themes and will build physical demonstrators to test their solutions. They argue that battery technology will improve on its own through market pressure, but the drive system needs dedicated fundamental engineering research. If successful, the work could bring the cost of electric vehicles down to parity with conventional cars, removing the main reason most consumers stick with petrol. The impact would be felt across manufacturing supply chains, as cheaper, more compact drive systems become easier to produce at scale. The project does not promise a single breakthrough product; instead, it targets the underlying science of electrical integration, motor design, and power electronics that will underpin any future electric vehicle, from vans to family cars.
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The urgent need for EV technology is clear. Consequently, this project is concerned with two key issues, namely the cost and power density of the electrical drive system, both of which are key barriers to bringing EVs to the mass market. To address these issues a great deal of underpinning basic research needs to be carried out. Here, we have analysed and divided the problem into 6 key themes and propose to build a number of demonstrators to showcase the advances made in the underlying science and engineering. We envisage that over the coming decades EVs in one or more variant forms will achieve substantial penetration into European and global automotive markets, particularly for cars and vans. The most significant barrier impeding the commercialisation EVs is currently the cost. Not until cost parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is achieved will it become a seriously viable choice for most consumers. The high cost of EVs is often attributed to the cost of the battery, when in fact the cost of the electrical power train is much higher than that of the ICE vehicle. It is reasonable to assume that that battery technology will improve enormously in response to this massive market opportunity and as a result will cease to be the bottleneck to development as is currently perceived in some quarters. We believe that integration of the electrical systems on an EV will deliver substantial cost reductions to the fledgling EV market Our focus will therefore be on the two major areas of the electrical drive train that is generic to all types of EVs, the electrical motor and the power electronics. Our drivers will be to reduce cost and increase power density, whilst never losing sight of issues concerning manufacturability for a mass market.
Andrew Cruden (Co-Investigator)Andrew Forsyth (Co-Investigator)Christopher Johnson (Co-Investigator)David Stone (Co-Investigator)Emil Levi (Co-Investigator)Keith Pullen (Co-Investigator)Patrick Luk (Co-Investigator)Phil Mawby (Principal Investigator)Philip Mellor (Co-Investigator)Volker Pickert (Co-Investigator)
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