Roads to the Future summarized current e-mobility research
Swedish Electromobility Centre’s annual conference focused on the e-mobility knowledge and expertise that we have today. Invitied speaker Anna Stefanopoulou opened the conference with a talk about model-based methods for Battery Management Systems. “Battery management is like raising kids”, she said.
The conference took place at Stockholm University, and presented research in various areas, all joined by their relevance to e-mobility. The topics ranged from overall questions about the general state of research and development, to more in-depth technical issues.
“Batteries are like humans – push them too hard and they will explode. Work them too hard or don’t push them enough – both cases are worse for their performance. It has to be just right. It’s just like raising kids”, said Anna Stefanopoulou in her speech “Models for mastering the mysterious world of ions in electro-mobility”. Anna Stefanopoulou is director of Automotive Research Centre at University of Michigan, and described among other things how the researchers work with neutron imagery to study swelling in lithium batteries. She concluded by emphasizing that models and data should be integrated in order to push the limits for Battery Management Systems.
In the field of system studies and methods, Jonas Fredriksson, Chalmers, showed how e-mobility together with active control is an opportunity for long, heavy vehicle combinations. Lars Eriksson, Linköping University, continued in the same area with a lecture on the theme “Model Based Development Towards Electromobility – The Prosperous Life, Evolution, and Impact of an Engine Model”.
Key note speaker Elena Lomonova from Eindhoven Technical University (TU/e) was the next key note speaker of the day. The subject of her lecture was the work on electric traction systems for e-mobility that is conducted in the electro-mechanics and power electronics research group at TU/e.
In the field of electric machines and drives, Francisco Marquéz-Fernández from Lund University spoke of electric roads as a future possibility, and said that a comparison between fuel cells and electric roads is planned in his research project. He was followed by Oskar Wallmark, KTH, who described the research conducted at KTH on compact integrated electric drives for automotive applications.
Energy storage was the theme of the afternoon presentations, where Torsten Wik, Chalmers, gave a lecture on adaptive modeling as a necessity for successful battery management. Jens Groot, AB Volvo, then gave an overview of the stat-of-the-art and research situation in Sweden regarding aging of lithium ion batteries.
“The cycle life issue could have been solved if we had focused on lifetime rather than performance, safety and cost – but would you prefer that?” he asked.
Annika Ahlberg-Tidblad from Scania addressed standards and regulations for batteries.
“Standards must be relevant, representative, reliable, fair and traceable,” she pointed out. “An inappropriate standard can be more detrimental than no standard at all.”
Anders Grauers, Chalmers, concluded the day by giving a picture of the current situation.
“E-mobility is in a breakthrough, but some issues stand in the way of a full introduction,” he said. “The discussion itself is important because it allows us to compare different solutions as the development goes on. Perhaps we will find even better solutions along the way?”
Text & photo: Emilia Lundgren
Podcast: Research challenges in e-mobility
In the latest podcast from OmEV, Elna Holmberg and Helena Berg discuss future challenges for the Swedish vehicle industry and what Sweden can do to speed up the development. They also summarize the conference Roads to the Future.
Elna Holmberg is director of Swedish Electromobility Centre, that hosts the technology watch project OmEV.
Competitiveness of fuel cells in road vehicles – new report
Under what conditions are drivelines with fuel cells competitive compared with other driveline options? The Swedish fuel cell research elite answer the question in a new report.
The report is based on written sources as well as a couple of interviews with actors in Japan where the major vehicle manufacturers work with both fuel cells and charge vehicles.
“The project is a collaboration between parts of the absolute elite in Swedish fuel cell research”, says Bertil Wahlund, Energiforsk, who leads the fuel cell tech watch in Swedish Electromobility Centre.
The authors note, among other things, that the competitiveness of various forms of electrification increases as regulations are made more stringent. Most policies that are beneficial for battery vehicles are beneficial for fuel cell vehicles as well. One important exception concerns infrastructure policies, since hydrogen vehicles, unlike battery vehicles, depend on a public fuel infrastructure.
The project was conducted by Hans Pohl, RISE Viktoria, Bengt Ridell, Sweco, Annika Carlson and Göran Lindbergh KTH, Kanehira Maruo and Magnus Karlström, Swedish Electromobility Center / Chalmers.
The study has been carried out within the framework of the Fuel cell tech watch at Swedish Electromobility Centre, which is coordinated by Energiforsk.
Download the report
Our annual report out now!
In 2016, Swedish Electromobility Centre started about ten postdoctoral and doctoral student projects and twenty new studies and smaller projects. We welcomed our new thematic researchers and saw the activity in the theme areas grow with more workshops and seminars and a broader network. We arranged the conferences “Roads to the Future”, “Fuel Cell 2016” and “Next Generation Batteries”, visited Japan and welcomed visitors from different parts of the world. Read all about it in our annual report!
All clear for six new fuel cell projects
“The interest grows along with the market development” says Bertil Wahlund who leads the fuel cell tech watch.
Fourteen applications came in and six were granted funding when Swedish Electromobility Centre invited project proposals for fuel cell tech watch. “The interest in fuel cells grows along with the market development” says Bertil Wahlund from Energiforsk, who leads the tech watch in the Centre’s theme area Fuel cells.
The granted projects concern
- monitoring of the development of solid oxide fuel cells (and electrolyzers)
- how the cost of fuel cell systems varies with different power sizes in vehicles
- lifetime and cost of pressure tanks for hydrogen storage, but also for other storage options
- the possibilities for fuel cells in vehicles, handling machines and locomotives in intermodal transport systems
- demonstration of a cargo bike with fuel cell for higher power
Fuel cells is one of Swedish Electromobility Centre’s five theme areas, with the objective of building a knowledge base and enabling a broader introduction of fuel cells for transport and for society.
Text: Emilia Lundgren
