Latest Posts

Internal Combustion Engines: A New Design Approach for implementation in Hybrid Vehicles

Date: 2024

Summary: In today's electrification era, the U.S. automotive industry is still facing many challenges with electric vehicles, primarily in reducing cost to compete with Chinese manufacturers. However, another challenge yet to be addressed is the charging infrastructure limitations and fast-charge times that will ultimately lead to a faster widespread market adoption of EV's. Thus, many automakers are refining their strategy to include hybrid vehicles to alleviate charging-related concerns and for a smoother transition to an electric future. Now, automakers are tasked with taking an existing technology: the internal combustion engine, and optimizing it to work efficiently alongside electric motors. The following articles discuss the future of these 'Next-Gen' engines and the design approach taken by three large manufacturers: Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda.

Link to full article: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60926217/toyota-subaru-mazda-engine-development/

Tire Sensing Technology: Developments in Vehicle Software Analytics to Predict Tire Failures

Date: 2024

Summary: The main objective of vehicle software analytics is to interpret data gathered by hardware, such as sensors, to understand overall vehicle health and relay important information to the driver. Recent developments in analytics are now leveraging artificial intelligence and expanding the role of software to detect emerging issues and predict failures before they even occur. The following articles discus how this is applied in tire sensing technology. In particular, Sumitomo Rubber Industries' latest technology can collect tire rotation signals from wheel speed sensors and use their understanding of tire dynamics to build software models to detect changes in tire pressure, detect tire-related failures, and detect changes in driving conditions.

Link to full article: https://www.falkentyre.com/en/press/article/falken-sri-wheel-detachment-technology

EV Market Competition: How to Combat the Rise of Chinese Dominance Across Different Markets

Date: 2024

Summary: It is widely accepted that Chinese battery companies and OEM's are rapidly growing and establishing dominance in terms of battery development and electric vehicle manufacturing. Now, they are seeking to expand their reach and enter new markets, either through exports or through new foreign manufacturing plants to establish local market presence. Some governments have already developed regulation to mitigate the impact this may have on their economic landscape (i.e. U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, tariffs and other trade restrictions). While this may be beneficial in the short-term, it is still unclear how this will play out in the long-term. One thing that is certain: OEMs have a big task ahead in order to stay in the competition. The following articles provide great insight and historical analogies to further emphasize the current state of EV industry.

Link to full article: https://electrek.co/2024/05/12/tariffs-on-china-arent-the-way-to-win-the-ev-arms-race-taking-evs-seriously-is/

Li-Ion Batteries for Automotive Applications: Looking at Tesla's 4680 cylindrical battery cells

Date: 2024

Summary: With the rapid development of Li-ion batteries for EVs, automakers are trying to understand the various battery chemistries and formats available to decide what is the best approach for a given vehicle application. To do this, automakers depend on scientists who report the current (and future) state of battery technology through academic research. However, an often overlooked aspect is the inherent gap between research lab batteries and commercialized batteries. Thus, researchers also depend on battery cell manufacturers and automakers to understand the implications of real-world application, in order to conduct further research and improve the technology. The following research article is a deep-dive into the battery cell characterization process, in which a Tesla 4680 cylindrical cell was torn down to study the internal architecture, analyze the electrode materials, and perform standard electrical and thermal tests.

Link to full article: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1945-7111/ad14d0

Biosensor Technology and Artificial Intelligence: Data Collection for HMI Design Optimization and for ADAS Operation

Date: 2024

Summary: Automakers are progressively implementing more safety and infotainment features that further expand the capability of modern vehicles. While beneficial, this can unintentionally cause higher levels of user complexity that require more human interaction and consequently divert the attention away from the road. Thus, automakers are working with several companies that develop technologies capable of estimating the amount of cognitive effort required to operate these Human Machine Interface (HMI) systems. This technology, such as camera-based eye-tracking, is also prevalent in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) research where engineers study the behavior and cognitive load of drivers during autonomous driving modes. The following article explains how companies like iMotions and SmartEye are leveraging a multi-disciplinary approach of neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) to gather data that supports automakers in two critical functions: 1) optimizing HMIs, such as infotainment systems, to allow activating a vehicle function while minimizing driver effort and 2) understanding driver behavior during autonomous driving features.

Link to full article: https://www.sae.org/news/2024/05/imotions-hmi-development

Synthetic Fuels: An Alternative Solution to Decarbonize Transportation

Date: 2024

Summary: Electrification is widely promoted as the future of transportation. However, there are still various global efforts to develop alternative technologies, such as synthetic fuels, that also reduce vehicle emissions when compared to gasoline. Traditional gasoline is derived from petroleum deposits. The petroleum hydrocarbons are extracted from under Earth's surface and when combusted, release greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. On the other hand, synthetic fuel is produced by absorbing the hydrocarbon components like carbon and hydrogen from carbon dioxide and electrolyzed water above Earth's surface. When combusted, the same carbon dioxide that was used to produce the fuel will return into the atmosphere, making it a 'carbon-neutral' process, as long as the energy used to produce the fuel is renewable energy. Additionally, synthetic fuel can be a direct substitute to gasoline and be used in existing engines, since they are chemically equivalent to the petroleum-based gasoline. This is an advantage compared to other gasoline alternatives, like biofuels derived from plant feedstock, which often require engine modifications. The following article discusses the global effort from automakers and governments to take a multi-solution approach to decarbonize transportation, including the opportunities and challenges synthetic fuels.

Link to full article: https://www.sae.org/news/2024/03/efuels-promise-low-carbon-alternatives

EV Thermal Management: The Emergence of New Technologies for EV Cooling Systems

Date: 2023

Summary: Thermal management systems in electric vehicles have been primarily focused around the battery. Under extreme conditions, batteries are prone to thermal runaway (i.e. the uncontrolled release of heat and energy) and pose a major safety risk to passengers. Maintaining the battery at optimal operating temperatures will not only mitigate the safety risk, but will also improve the battery's performance. The following article discusses design approaches by automakers and suppliers for thermal management components and systems. It addresses some of the current challenges, such as limited packaging space and limited energy due to maximizing the amount of energy available for propulsion range instead of non-propulsion needs like cabin climate control. The mainstream technology of cooling plates is also discussed, along with the challenges of alternative technologies like immersion cooling.

Link to full article: https://www.sae.org/news/2023/09/thermal-management-for-evs

EV Battery Pack: Material Selection of Pack Enclosure Structures for Improving Performance

Date: 2023

Summary: The battery pack's design and its integration into the vehicle chassis structure are fundamental in establishing an electric vehicle's architecture. Each battery pack houses individual battery cells, thermal hardware, and electrical hardware. Some of the most important attributes of a battery pack are: 1) mass 2) cost 3) manufacturability 4) safety. When the pack has the lowest mass possible, it increases the vehicle's range capability. Using low-cost materials enables lower pack $/kWh, which is a critical cost efficiency metric that automakers attempt to minimize. For high-volume production, the manufacturability of the pack is imperative for production efficiency. And finally, since the battery pack is typically the heaviest and largest subsystem in the vehicle, it has significant influence in the vehicle's dynamic response in the crash events, and thus passenger safety. To support the requirements for each of these attributes, the battery pack enclosure design is an integral component and also brings the entire subsystem together. The following article describes the current technology field of battery pack enclosure designs, including material selections and corresponding tradeoffs for each.

Link to full article: https://www.sae.org/news/2023/03/electric-vehicle-battery-enclosures