8 minute read time.
The IET 6th Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Conference, HEVC 2016, was held on 2 – 3 November 2016, at the recently refurbished Savoy Place in London – an excellent venue for a Conference. As a newcomer to the field of HEVC – my objectives being to learn about hybrid and electric vehicles and also, in my capacity as Editor-in-Chief of the IET series of books on Transportation, to identify and sign up potential authors - I was very impressed.

 

Adrian Vinsome, Head of Energy Research, Cenex, opened the conference, followed by the first Keynote presentation, “HEV – Advanced technology for real world users”, by Andy Eastlake, Managing Director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, “ a unique public-private membership organisation building evidence and creating robust policies and innovation support in UK”. The LowCVP is based at the IMechE.  Its members include a number of universities, fleet operators, automotive manufacturers, technology suppliers, fuel suppliers and Government and other public bodies. Its mission is “To accelerate a sustainable shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels in the UK and thereby stimulate opportunities for UK businesses”. Andy stressed that the real world user is not constrained, nor repeatable, nor rational, nor reliable (his words, not mine) and is not easy to engineer!  So what we have to do is create “representative tests” and engineer flexible solutions. This means choosing the right vehicle for the task, and the expected driving cycle (motorway, urban, or suburban).

 

So far as buses are concerned, “Real World” testing has been in place since 1996 with the creation of the Millbrook London Transport Bus (MLTB) Cycle, and the subsequent 20 years of collaborative development of products, performance and policy, resulting in success in the UK Bus market: 40% of new buses sold in 2015 were classed as “Low Carbon”, including Natural Gas, Hydrogen, Plug in Full Electric and Hybrid, and Biofuel; in this respect  the bus market is 10 years ahead of the vehicle market generally.

 

Whilst it is obvious that electric vehicles are less polluting than diesel or petrol vehicles in city centres, I had always been concerned that when the emissions of the electricity generation are taken into account, we might find that the pollution is just displaced to the power stations. But according to Eastlake, the “well to wheel” greenhouse gas emissions for electric vehicles even on long-distance and motorway driving are only half of those from diesel vehicles.  The question he then raises is how to inspire mass market transition to more EV miles, especially as consumers resist giving up convenience. (I think this is what he means when he says they are irrational). Whilst total vehicle miles continue to rise (around 40% higher than 1996), the fastest-growing segment is “white van” delivery vehicles, whose mileage has increased 70% over the same time period. His conclusions are to keep focussed on the real world user, and develop the technology to deliver the market needs, but don’t assume you know what the driver will do!


The first session of conference papers covered real-world driving cycles, the challenges of hybrid off-road machinery and vehicles (by a speaker from JCB - not a company or an application area I had expected), and a paper on electric bus charging infrastructure choices by a speaker from Amsterdam - introduction of the vehicles being expected by 2018, with lessons derived for other cities.  According to the latter paper, operational demands determine the choice of charging technology for electric buses, including route length, available charging time on-route and at end stops.


Session 2 addressed Battery Management, Session 3 was the Poster session, where speakers briefly presented as a taster to visit their poster. 

Session 4, Infrastructure Design, covered the Distribution Network Operator perspective on electric vehicles, the factors which influence the success of public charging points of electric vehicle, integrating electric vehicles into the electrical networks, and the new generation of smart power stations for electric vehicles – aspects of the introduction of electric vehicles which we tend to forget.

 

Session 5, the last of Day One, was another unexpected topic (unexpected to me at least) - Thermal Management, including a paper on “Use of metallic phase change materials for heat storage in electric and hybrid vehicles” from the German Aero Space Center (yes really – a kind of multimodality I suppose). Of course you can’t afford to use the battery to heat the vehicle, and there isn’t the “waste” heat that the internal combustion engine supplies.

 

The day ended with a networking session and drinks reception in the Maxwell Library.

 

Day 2 began with another excellent Keynote presentation on “Future mobility & energy demands – the role for hybrid and electric vehicles in an integrated transport system” by Neville Jackson, Group Technology Director of Ricardo Plc, who also chaired Session 6 on Vehicle Systems Integration.  Professor Jackson addressed Key challenges for the Automotive Sector, Future energy and technology options, EV/PHEV market opportunities & growth, and Infrastructure challenges. He raised the question of whether we are likely to see an Integrated future Energy & Mobility system, and the impacts of i-Mobility and new ownership models.

 

Poor air quality is the world’s largest single environmental health risk; the impact is highest in Asia but is significant in Europe and the USA. Indeed in the UK there are an order of magnitude more deaths attributable to pollution than to road accidents; the Mayor of London is currently consulting on whether to expand and bring forward his proposed Ultra-Low Emission Zone. Other cities and countries are planning more extreme measures such as banning diesels or even any internal-combustion-engined vehicle. However, there is no “silver bullet”; we will need a range of technology solutions including lightweight vehicles, advanced engines and fuels, energy recovery and storage and low-carbon generation.  

 

Plug-in hybrids are likely to dominate in the medium term, which minimises the infrastructure investment needed. Automotive companies need to focus on a more attractive consumer experience, including ease of charging, better charging availability, more connected vehicles, perhaps with preferential treatment such as being able to use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes or easier/cheaper parking.

On the infrastructure side, the local electricity grid network cannot adequately support even low uptake of electric and plug-in vehicles; capacity needs to at least double, and fast charging may require a 10-fold increase! Future energy, transport and resource systems will need to be optimised and integrated to provide more intelligent use of infrastructure and investment. Change in business and ownership models (autonomous vehicles, Uber, drones) may have more impact than electric technology advances.

 

Professor Jackson was also able to answer my own personal question. Having bought a diesel vehicle some 10 years ago, encouraged by the Government, in the belief that it was an eco-friendly thing to do, because of the lower CO2 emissions compared to petrol vehicles, I now find that I am an NOx and particulate emitting polluter who is likely to be “persona non grata” in many city centres as they introduce their low emission zones. I asked whether there might be some kind of retro-fitted device that could clean up my emissions. The answer unfortunately was “no” – though counter-intuitively it seems that my vehicle might be less polluting than more modern diesels, at least so far as NOx is concerned.

 

Session 7: Power Electronics, included a paper on “Gallium nitride - delivering its promise in automotive applications” from a Canadian company.  This was followed by a second poster session, where one paper had the intriguing title of “Hybrid vehicle engineering: A vehicle to hybridise engineers”, which described initiatives at the University of Warwick’s Manufacturing Group to bridge the skills gap and “upskill” existing engineers, including an educational partnership with Jaguar Land Rover. The automotive industry’s initiatives on de-carbonisation and the reduction of tailpipe emissions means that the industry is experiencing “ a more rapid development of new technologies now than at any time in the past century”, with a need for multi-disciplinary skills.

 

Session 9 on Charging Technology was particularly academic (in the best sense of the word) and international, with papers from the Universities of Southampton, Strathclyde, Utah and Colorado, as well as Jaguar Land Rover. Practical issues addressed included fast charging to allay “range anxiety” at the same time as minimising demands on the grid, either by supplementary batteries at the charging point, or Low Voltage Direct Current distribution systems. Wireless power transfer between roadways and vehicles also seems to be a promising alternative to traditional charging methods – at least in the United States.

 

The final Session was appropriately entitled “End of Life Management”, with papers on end-of-Life considerations for batteries from Tata Motors, and Axion Consulting, and an outline of the very complex European battery disposal legislation from Michael Green Consulting.

 

Overall the conference was an international affair, with papers from the UK, several other European countries, China, North America, and the European Technical Centre of Tata Motors. The 80-strong audience was equally diverse, from the Far east, North America and continental Europe as well as the UK. I learned that the decarbonisation of our road transport system is a lot more complex and demanding than simply persuading people to use electric vehicles – it has a very important infrastructure dimension. The future will be very interesting and demanding for any engineers involved in this area.

 
Dr John Walker CPhys FIET

Member: IET ARTS TPN, IET Berkshire LN,

Editor-in-Chief, IET Book Series on "Transportation"

Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Transportation Research Group, University of Southampton, UK