Introduction

Although many people link e-Mobility to an eco-friendly mindset, part of transforming the anticipated market for EVs into reality lies in the ability of automotive industry to address current consumer concerns regarding EVs in order to fulfil their expectations of e-Mobility. Range anxiety is one of the main barriers to EV adoption by the broader customer pool; moreover, the ambient conditions (e.g. extreme hot or cold weather) profoundly affect the actual driving range which can be achieved. Since it is clear that how EVs are perceived by the public will continue to play a major role in the evolution of the market, vehicle manufacturers must seek to make the most of the potential opportunity by effectively responding to and shaping customer expectations. As cabin heating and cooling represent the highest auxiliary loads drawing on the vehicle’s energy resources, DOMUS aims to deliver advanced solutions to lower significantly the energy demand for cabin conditioning while improving the user experience by developing, validating and applying a user-centric approach to EV design.

In a nutshell, the overall objective of the DOMUS project is to reduce the overall energy consumption of future EVs in order to increase the 25% the electric range for different ambient conditions. This will be achieved by understanding in depth the comfort perception of EV users before developing reliable methodologies for designing and assessing the full vehicle context from a user-centric perspective, investigating radically new cabin designs and delivering innovative components, systems and control strategies to meet customer expectations.

Objectives

The specific technical objectives of DOMUS are:

  1. Acquiring a thorough understanding of all factors influencing comfort perception and capturing the capability to improve EV energy efficiency while maintaining optimal user experience
  2. Development of radical new cabin and EV designs and the methodology for virtual assessment of EV (cabin) designs that includes comfort perception, efficiency, well-being and safety
  3. Development of new cabin components, systems and control strategies for energy efficient, safe and comfortable future EVs up to TRL 5/6 (for some potentially up to TRL 7)
  4. Implementation and validation of the developed models, cabin/EV designs and instrumental innovation of cabin components, systems and controls and assessment methodology
  5. Assess the impact and applicability of the solutions developed across different types of EVs

Results

DOMUS expects the following general results:

  • The development, integration and demonstration of new components, systems and control strategies for EVs that are energy efficient, comfortable, safe, configurable and cost effective.
  • An increase of 25% of the electric drive range of EVs compared to their 2016 reference models.
  • The generation of knowhow about user’s perception of comfort and corresponding cabin requirements for future mass-market oriented efficient EVs.

Specific results are:

  • Holistic comfort model also considering non-traditional factors and creation of a 3D virtual model of the cabin to be used for optimisation:
    • Time and cost-effective virtual validation prior to physical integration.
  • Development of virtual design & assessment methodology for optimised for human characteristics & conditions:
    • Bespoke user-centric design optimisation processes to improve EVs driving range.
  • Unified central cabin comfort regulation unit:
    • Real-time sensitivity analysis of energy distribution among all active components to ensure unprecedented efficiency.