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This report specifies the active electronic switches and resistive and reactive passive components, as well as converters' materials such as bus-bars and coolers that will be developed in the RHODaS project.

Based on system and component specifications, a selection matrix is developed and active and passive components to be used on the prototypes are selected, as well as their joining elements, connections and casing.

This paper is an introduction to the MAXIMA project which aims to design and develop a low-cost modular permanent magnet (PM) axial flux electrical machine (EM) for the automotive market with improved performances while limiting the use of critical raw materials (CRM) and the environmental impact.

Climate change has created an increased need for innovation in various sectors, including the automotive industry. Many corporations are striving to fulfil this need by developing and producing electric cars. However, the production process remains inefficient and environmentally harmful. The EU-funded HEFT project will reverse this trend by introducing a revolutionary synchronous motor for electric cars, which will be recyclable, cost-efficient and require fewer materials while producing fewer emissions and creating novel European circular economies. 

HEFT Project proposes a set of innovation challenges on electric synchronous motor configuration based on SiC inverters (direct cooling of rotor and stator, advance insulation for high voltage, multibarrier rotor topology, wave windings) and advanced materials (advanced GBD magnets, epoxy for magnet fixation, composite for motor housing, insulation resin). These innovations will result in a high-efficient and low-cost solution that will be validated on 2 motor topologies.

In the frame of the European project SCAPE, this work analyses the environmental impacts associated with key materials from parts and auxiliaries of a conventional EV power converter. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to perform the assessment. Four end-of-life scenarios with different recyclability rates per material category were evaluated considering optimistic, pessimist and current recoverability rates. Results showed the consumption of non-renewable energy resources mainly based on fossil fuels as the major contributor to environmental impacts. Particularly, metals from the printing circuit board, such as gold, silver, and Copper + Molybdenum are the largest contributors. Recycling scenarios led to savings of up to 40% among impact categories.

Multi-Moby is an ambitious project aiming at quickly finalising the results of a cluster of ongoing and past European projects, addressing the development of technologies for safe, efficient and affordable urban electric vehicles (EVs). This paper presents the developments that have been implemented in the first half of Multi-Moby, which deals with low-cost M1 and N1 EVs, to be manufactured via low-investment and lean processes and plants. The Multi-Moby EVs have excellent passive safety characteristics, enhanced by pre-emptive active safety controllers. The vehicles can be coupled with efficient 100 V or 48 V powertrains. Fast charging is enabled by the integrated design of hybrid supercapacitor-battery cells and wall box chargers. The project will also consider low-cost automated driving solutions, with focus on gimbal-based camera systems for environmental sensing and detection.

Technological innovation is a key enabler for reaching the strategic EU objectives in the transport field, such as decarbonisation and digitalization. This report identifies and presents a selection of new and emerging technologies in transport, based primarily on the Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS) database. The presented technologies are divided into cross-cutting digital technologies, such as AI, and transport-specific ones, with a narrower and more specific transport scope. The overview of the technologies includes technology background, state of the art, European R&I activities, and the relevance for the EU policy.

The EM-TECH project presented their approach for a new end-of-life scenario for in-wheel motors at the Eco-Mobility 2024 Conference organized by A3PS.

The proposed end-of-life scenario is based on the following key considerations:

• Urge for a directly applicable solution to recover rare earths from e-motors.
• Lack of standardization in the current design of e-motors, which hinders the development of robotic solutions to automatically disassemble the permanent magnets. Furthermore, no legislation regarding design standardization is considered to be implemented in the near future, since this can jeopardize seriously the innovation and improvements for e-motors.
• Challenges in the non-destructive extraction of internally mounted permanent magnets.
• Reduction in rare earths content in new generations of e-motor, which decreases their monetary value at the end-of-life stage.
• Expansion of the primary production industry of rare earth elements in Europe.

V2X technologies will become widespread in the next generation of passenger cars, and enable the development of novel vehicle control functionalities. Although a wide literature describes the energy efficiency benefits of V2X connectivity, e.g., in terms of vehicle speed profiling and platooning, there is a gap in the analysis of the potential of vehicle connectivity in enhancing the performance of active safety control systems. To highlight the impact vehicle connectivity could have on future active safety systems, this paper presents two novel control functions for connected vehicles, benefitting from the precise knowledge of the expected path and tire-road friction conditions ahead, as well as the current position of the ego vehicle. These functions, developed within recent and ongoing European projects, are: i) pre-emptive traction control; and ii) pre-emptive braking control. 

State-of-the-art antilock braking systems (ABS) are reactive, i.e., they activate after detecting that wheels tend to lock in braking. With vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity becoming a reality, it will be possible to gather information on the tire–road friction conditions ahead, and use these data to enhance wheel slip control performance, especially during abrupt friction level variations. This study presents a nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) for ABS with preview of the tire–road friction profile. The potential benefits, optimal prediction horizon, and robustness of the preview algorithm are evaluated for different dynamic characteristics of the brake actuation system, through an experimentally validated simulation model. Proof-of-concept experiments with an electric vehicle prototype highlight the real-time capability of the proposed NMPC ABS, and the associated wheel slip control performance improvements in braking maneuvers with high-to-low friction transitions.

The scope of this study is to demonstrate that on-board electric powertrains with torsional dynamics of the half-shafts have the potential for effective compensation, thanks to the road profile preview. This paper presents a proof-of-concept nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) with road preview, which is assessed with a validated simulation model of an all-wheel drive electric vehicle. Three powertrain layouts are considered, with four in-wheel, four on-board, and two on-board electric machines. The control function is evaluated along multiple manoeuvres, through comfort-related key performance indicators (KPIs) that, for the four on-board layout along a road step test at 40 km/h, highlight >80% improvements. Finally, the real-time implementability of the algorithms is demonstrated, and preliminary experiments are conducted on an electric quadricycle prototype, with more than halved oscillations of the relevant variables.