Electric cars keep rolling : Date:
In order to increase the efficiency and range of electric cars, researchers at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences are developing an intelligent energy and route management system as part of the PRE-E project – with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Quiet, efficient and environmentally friendly – electric cars are regarded as the future of transport. For all the enthusiasm for climate protection, however, the demand for electric cars has so far been modest. This is not least due to their limited range: current electric models can travel up to 250 kilometres on one charge of electricity. This makes them particularly suitable for urban traffic, but for long journeys they can only be used to a limited extent or not at all.
How can the attractiveness and acceptance of electric cars be increased? Reiner Kriesten, professor at the Institute of Energy Efficient Mobility (IEEM) at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, is investigating this question: in his PRE-E project, he and his team are developing a coupled system for energy and route management. This system makes it possible to find the most appropriate route in terms of energy consumption and, at the same time, to control the energy requirements of auxiliary consumers such as air conditioning and infotainment so that the destination is reached safely. To this end, the route must be continuously calculated during the entire journey, and the remaining energy of the vehicle must be balanced with the energy required to reach the destination. Influencing factors such as the current traffic situation, road conditions and vehicle load are included in the route calculation. If the remaining energy is not sufficient for the distance left to travel, the system initiates measures: the driver is given tips on energy-saving driving styles, auxiliary consumers are throttled back, and alternative routes are displayed.
In order to reliably calculate the energy and range, Kriesten is developing an intelligent algorithm in cooperation with scientific and industrial partners. This algorithm can be built into the software of electric cars with little effort. For vehicle manufacturers, this is an inexpensive way to increase the efficiency of their electric cars.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is supporting the research project with about 310,000 euros within the framework of FHprofUnt as part of the Research at Universities of Applied Sciences programme.