that significant improvements can be achieved in those areas that currently present the greatest challenges to the automotive industry, i.e. the lowering of CO2 emissions, the reduction of real-world driving emissions and reduced costs for electrification components,” says Günter Fraidl, AVL Head of Drive Systems Passenger Cars. “AVL is the perfect development partner for this task, because this kind of drive system is becoming increasingly complex. This is the reason why simulations are getting more and more important, as are modern test-bed and testing environments for validation. Simulations like these, as well as cutting-edge test systems, are developed 1 4 F o c u s right here at AVL – and are available to us for the development of these progressively more complex drive systems.” Autonomous Energy Saving The simplest connection between the drive and the driving environment can be achieved by using a state-of-the-art on-board navigation system which also delivers information about the route profile. Klaus Küpper: “This might be information about gradients or about the road conditions ahead, which enters the central control unit by a standard interface. Other information might include the latest updates on traffic delays and jams. In a Connected Powertrain, even entering your destination might have an impact on which operating mode is best used in a certain driving situation: if your destination is in a city, for example, electric driving should have priority there. In this case, the batteries are given a break and a chance to recharge particularly during interurban operation.” Such geographic information can additionally be useful for the batteries’ recharging and discharging strategy. “Should the vehicle detect that it has to manage a gradient followed by a longer downhill period, it will first drive with maximum battery power in order to discharge the battery. Driving downhill, the battery can then recuperate energy to maximum extent.” In the future, major influencing factors will also be represented in c2x information (car-to-x). In this case, the vehicle communicates both with the infrastructure (traffic lights, traffic management systems, etc.) and with other vehicles. Klaus Küpper gives the following example: “If the traffic lights turn red 400 meters ahead of the vehicle, the vehicle is informed about it and then chooses the best operating mode. For efficiency reasons, a hybrid car would cover this short distance up to the red traffic lights without internal combustion engine and with optimum recuperation.“ “As this happens entirely without any effort of the driver, it can be referred to as “autonomous energy saving,” Günter Fraidl added. Autonomous energy saving could also be applied to an acceleration and speed profile chosen by the driver. “This kind of energy flow control within the powertrain takes place below the driver’s perception threshold.“ According to the expert, any additional information relating to the driving environment, traffic density, etc. could equally be used to actively support the driver or – in the more distant future – for autonomous driving. powertrain engineering » Thanks to the Connected Powertrain, we are able to achieve significant improvements in important areas: reduction of CO2 emissions, limitation of real-world driving emissions and reduced costs for electrification. « Günter Fraidl, Head of Drive Systems, Passenger Cars
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