Abstract
Keyworkds - Parallel Hybrid, Fuel Consumption, Driveability, Mission, Field Test
The popularity of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is increasing quickly across many countries in the world, which are keen on promoting such type of vehicle. Japan and USA have already experienced in the past few years a steep growth of the market, Europe is expected to follow the same trend in the next decade. The increasing demand for gas and oil, price rises and environmental concerns are driving a market that is in need of alternative solutions. The growth in the hybrid market significantly exceeded all the hybrid sales forecasts.
The parallel hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) combine the benefits of gasoline engines and electric motors and can be configured to achieve improved fuel economy, increased power, and above all better performance as a result of very low greenhouse gas emissions. The potential to reduce emissions from all vehicles is an attractive bonus, but the real drivers for the growth in the market are demonstrable fuel economy improvements and reductions in maintenance costs (global efficiency).
The paper presents the activities carried out by Iveco in the study and development of a parallel hybrid applied on medium range vehicle, focusing the attention to the driveability performances and targeting the best reduction in terms of fuel consumption and emission in different urban and extra urban missions.
The architecture chosen for this type of application is a parallel hybrid with: one electric motor/generator and a single clutch. Plug-in is not required.
The system configuration allows to implement the following functionalities:
- Stop & Start with Electric Launch
- Hybrid Mode
- Regenerative Braking Mode
- Inertial Start and Creeping Mode
The control system has been optimized on the customer specific missions, with a feedback from field tests (hybrid end users mini-fleet) to demonstrate the reliability, driveability and efficiency of the solution. The on road experimentation is an important issue to develop a competitive product in a short period.
The preliminary results achieved during the performance tests are perfectly in line with the Iveco estimations especially in term of fuel consumption and driveability. The vehicle measurements show the following improvements: 20% fuel reduction in a real urban delivery mission and an acceleration from zero to 90 km/h better than 2,5 seconds in comparison with a baseline Eurocargo truck.