26/07/2018

The Implications and Costs of Electrification

Andrew Hooker from Thatcham Research delivered an excellent lecture on "The implications and costs of electrification"

IAEA President Chris Jones was in attendance, along with a full room of members for the May London region lecture held at the Rye Street Group, Borehamwood, Accident Repair Centre.

Andrew started off the evening, giving us some stats of the manufacturers' targets for their vehicles to be electrified. Many manufacturers are aiming for 25-30% of vehicles to be electrified by 2025, with Audi aiming at 35% by this date and Jaguar is aiming at electrifying everything it produces by 2021. Diesel are in decline and Nissan have been the first to announce that they aim to stop the diesel production completely.

Electrification is coming right across the board, motorcycles, cars, LCV and HGVs.

The VW group alone have placed tenders for 50 billion Euros worth of vehicle batteries; just demonstrating their commitment to electrification of their vehicles.

48 voltage architecture is being phased in without much advertisement of the fact. Mild Hybrid or Dual voltage system is a better term, with both 12 volt and 48 volt systems running alongside each other. Needless to say, any contact or electrical fault between the two systems may result in a costly replacement of the 12 volt system components.

Andrew stated that the new 48 volt system units are being developed on a daily basis, with new technology being developed on top of that technology and with new thinking being introduced by companies who are not normally associated with the motor industry. Andrew is confident that the motor vehicle will change more over the next 18 months than it has in the last hundred years.

With the development of the new 48 volt systems, this additional power supply allows for much more powerful electrical units and components. These can react much quicker or outperform any previous 12 volt units and components. Examples Andrew gave were air conditioning systems that could reach the desired temperature much quicker and 48 volt power assisted steering that would be much more responsive and smoother.

Manufacturers are looking to introduce in-wheel motors with wireless technology transmitting the energy to the electric motor. This enables a more adaptable design and reduces weight at the same time. Having an electric motor positioned in each wheel gives fantastic control and stability to the vehicle with its lower centre of gravity and better traction control around the vehicle.

In the past electric motors have been heavy and have used costly precious metals. Now they are developing new electric motors with common materials such as aluminium, which allows for a smaller electrical unit that spins much faster than the current motors. This again will reduce the overall weight of the vehicle giving a much better usage of the power supply and extending its travelling range.

The manufacturers are aware that they are using the earth's precious metals for the current battery designs and are aiming to have a car that can become a whole life service, servicing the household too. With the ability to plug your car into the household electrics and use your vehicle as a power source, you would be able to use any surplus battery reserves charged at off-peak times, during peak times or cover any periods of power cuts to your home.

Andrew explained part of Thatcham Research role will be to verify that the electric vehicle and its battery are repairable.

Currently battery packs are large, costly to store and transport around. Manufacturers want batteries to be repairable, with the ability to remove and replace battery cells to help keep costs down. With vehicles becoming more and more expensive, the customer may want to hold onto their vehicle for longer. If a vehicle has a 75% battery life after five years, or 50% after 8 years it wouldn't be very attractive to customers. Therefore, there is a great need for the batteries to be serviceable, so technicians can diagnose and replace faulty battery cells, the cost of which would be far more favourable than a conventional mechanical engine repair.

Traditionally the vehicle has been designed to protect the occupants, whereas now more thought is also going into the design for battery location to maximise its protection. This will also enable a far improved vehicle platform to be used across a range of models.

New body materials are being developed and introduced into the vehicle. Multi material panels such as plastic reinforced with carbon fibre tape. Boot lids, bonnets and floor pans are being reinforced with directional carbon fibre tape. Can this be repaired? This is one of the areas Thatcham is looking into. With all this new technology and materials being introduced into the new vehicles, greater awareness, correct repair methods and trained personnel will need to available to safely and economically carry out the repairs.

Andrew covered much more including vehicle platforms, V2V with swarm intelligence, future recharging developments and hydrogen fuel cells, giving a great insight of things to come.

Closing the evening, Chris Jones gave an update on the IAEA Institute, confirming good membership numbers, that we are in a financially secure position and an update on the latest developments of the Institutes qualification process.

Gary Hunt the London region Chairman concluded the lecture thanking Andrew Hooker for such an informative evening and Chris Jones for coming down to support the event.