Battery design for successful electrification in public transport

Abstract

Public transport is an especially promising sector for full electric vehicles due to the high amount of cycles and predictable workload. This leads to a high amount of different vehicle concepts ranging from large batteries, designed for a full day of operation without charging, to fast-charging systems with charging power up to a few hundred kilowatts. Hence, many different issues have to be addressed in the whole design and production process regarding high-voltage (HV) batteries for buses. In this work, the design process for electric public buses is analyzed in detail, based on two systems developed by the research projects Smart Wheels/econnect and SEB eÖPNV. The complete development process starting, with the demand analysis and the operating scenario, including the charging routine, is discussed. This paper also features details on cell selection and cost estimations as well as technical details on the system layout, such as the management system and passive components as well as thermal management.