Development of a compact-class range extended electric vehicle demonstrator

Abstract

MAHLE has developed a dedicated Range Extender engine which has been focussed on meeting the requirements for a compact-class range-extended electric vehicle. In order to enable further development and refinement of the Range Extender system (e.g. NVH attributes of the engine), the module has now been installed into a demonstration vehicle. A current production gasoline fuelled compact-class car was used as a donor vehicle and converted into a range-extended electric vehicle (REEV). The all-electric driveline specification has been developed to meet the performance criteria set for the demonstrator, matching the acceleration and maximum speed capabilities of the conventional donor vehicle. Also, a target electric only range has enabled the battery pack capacity to be specified. The resulting vehicle is intended to reflect likely, near to market, steps to further the wider adoption of electric vehicles in the compact-class passenger car segment. This study gives details of the REEV vehicle developed and the Range Extender system integration. Additionally, the proposed operating strategy for the engine is described and simulation results show the fuel efficiency anticipated over the current legislative drive-cycle. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.