It is generally accepted that the next step in the evolution of green vehicles is the introduction of hybrid vehicles to the mass market.  This presents many new challenges on cost, packaging, function and safety to the Automotive OEM who now has to include large battery packs, power electronics and motors in addition to the existing vehicle systems (engines, gearbox, etc.).The addition of these technologies also presents a number of opportunities to improve the performance, fuel economy and refinement and reduce the CO2 emissions of the new hybrid vehicles. The Automotive manufacturer has to carefully balance these new targets in addition to the existing targets that they have been using to develop the current generation of products.

Simulation has been used for many years to develop vehicles, but typically working in isolation on individual systems.  For example, the suspension is modelled and simulated without including the interactions with the traction control, electronic stability or anti-lock braking systems.As the complexity of the vehicles increases, so does the importance for the simulation activities to model the interactions between all of the vehicle systems.  For example, to study regenerative braking a model must include the complete powertrain, electric drivetrain, power electronics and energy storage systems as well as the suspension, tyre models, anti-lock braking system, electronic stability program and all the control systems associated with the engine, gearbox and electric drives.

Dymola enables the complete vehicle to be modelled so that the interactions between all the systems can be investigated and understood

Dymola provides model libraries that enable the complete vehicle system to be modelled so that the interactions between all the systems can be investigated and understood.  By coupling the Powertrain, SmartElectricDrives and VehicleDynamics libraries and using the Modelica Standard Library to model the control systems, the performance of the regenerative braking control system can be assessed safely under a wide variety of driving conditions and road surfaces.Only by utilising simulation tools that enable a complete functional mock up of the vehicle to be built is it possible to fully optimise the behaviour of the car and to investigate the full range of operation of the vehicle systems in a safe manner.Download the brochure: Hybrid Vehicle Modelling With Dymola in PDF format