© Alan Trotter
© Alan Trotter

Researchers develop sustainable e-mobility

A team of researchers is developing a navigation system for electric vehicles which extends battery life, helps prevent instabilities in the power system, and promotes renewable energy.

Researchers from the University of Mannheim, the University of Passau, and the Deggendorf Institute of Technology and E-carsharing, Germany, are working on the three-year project funded under the Horizon 2020 framework programme ‘Smart, Green and Integrated Transport’.

According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one million electric vehicles will be on Germany’s roads by 2020.

However, electric cars currently pose sales problems including high costs and a low battery range.

The research team is now working to increase the attractiveness of electric vehicles by increasing the battery life.

Project leader Sonja Klingert from the Department of Economics and Computer Science at the University of Mannheim, said: “We are giving drivers a tool which allows them to extend, through perfect routes, the range of charging times and battery life.

“Both full charge and quick reloading affects the long-term negative impact on the battery life.”

The researchers at the University of Mannheim are working on an ‘Advanced Driver Assistance System’ (ADS), which aims to know the status of the battery during the planned route and suggest battery friendly charging times and places to the driver by using the Electric Vehicle Smart Algorithm (ELSA).

Professor Doctor Michaela Wänke, chair of consumer psychology and economic psychology, said: “So that the driver accepts the suggestions offered, they must be attractive and transparent.

“We must therefore work together with the business data on psychological and economic incentive mechanisms to reward the driver for exemplary behaviour.”

In addition to weather data and battery capacity, the system relies on the historical data of driving behaviour and topography to make attractive charging proposals.