The main goal of MORE-ZERO project is to increase the range of electric vehicles thanks to the installation of a zero emissions range extender. The idea is to develop a modular system to be installed in 2 different vehicles with different requirements and raising public awareness about the electric and hybrid vehicles’ viability in our cities.
Started: 01/06/2014
Duration: 30/11/2016
Total budget: 200 k€
Coordinator: Applus IDIADA
Partners: eTrucks/H2Consultancy, Applus IDIADA, Powercell, Thriphase
All MORE-ZERO partners will investigate, assess and design the best modular range extender that can be achieved through innovative tools and safety systems. This objective will involve accomplishing the following sub-objectives:
- To develop a fully hydrogen modular range extender for electric vehicles able to be integrated in 2 different vehicles categories, that consists of a PEM based fuel cell stack, a peripheral system in order to monitor the hydrogen and fuel cell stacks and a modular DC/DC converter.
- To demonstrate the scalability of the solution integrating the system in a small truck of 3,5 tons, Nissan Cabstar, completely electrified by IDIADA and a heavy duty truck of 18 tons provided by E-Trucks Europe.
- To define design practices/rules/freedoms & limitations of the modular range extender system for electric vehicles based on data collected from the demonstration activities of the two prototypes developed, making full use of change in operational limitations compared to electric engine-driven vehicles.
- To outline modularisation strategies for integration of the system components allowing to address high degrees of customisation of vehicles for specific use case without excessive development investments for each of the resulting variants.
The overall objectives demonstrate the cost-benefit trade-offs of adding a fuel cell auxiliary power unit to increase the range of existing battery in electric vehicles, optimize the component sizing and vehicle level energy management. Aiming at determining the best solution, it is needed to achieve a good level of range, to find the most efficiency configuration, to keep or improve comfort and to demonstrate the capabilities of fuel cell in different types of vehicles.