Prosperity Partnerships
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: WMG
Abstract
There is a growing demand for low carbon vehicles to reduce the transport sector's environmental impact and respond to the pressure of decarbonisation. Over the last 5 years, battery costs and performance have improved significantly which has subsequently improved the viability of electric and hybrid vehicles. By taking a whole-systems approach to electrification for efficiency, this collaborative research programme will focus on gaining underpinning knowledge on battery performance and degradation, new devices and packaging for power electronic, design of electric motors that include manufacturing effects and addressing the challenges that electric drives for torque transmission impose on surfaces, substrates and lubricants to optimise materials for drives. This research will address the fundamental research challenges to accelerate electrification of vehicles in the UK. It will deliver new scientific insights to drive forward discovery and innovation in electric and hybrid vehicles. The knowledge generated by this research programme will provide a route to maintain and grow jobs as low emission vehicles replace existing vehicles and will have impacts across the supply chain.
Planned Impact
Industrial benefits
The proposed Prosperity Partnership will drive discovery and innovation in electric and hybrid vehicles using challenges co-created by University of Warwick and Jaguar Land Rover. The Partnership will provide scientific research to underpin the development-driven research, accelerating the pace of innovation in the company. The research will also explore new research questions with the potential to deliver step-changes in the electrification of vehicles. As a key UK manufacturing company, Jaguar Land Rover can exploit the impact of their innovations across their extensive supply chain.
Social Benefits
The research outputs from this project will enable Warwick to expand its energy storage and advanced propulsion research portfolio that is rooted in WMG, contributing to research to accelerate emissions and CO2 reduction in vehicles and training skilled researchers to address the skills gap in these growing areas.. Further social benefits arise from communication of the electric vehicle technologies and their underpinning science through the public engagement/outreach activities delivered as part of this Prosperity Partnership. These activities will be focused on STEM subjects via Jaguar Land Rover's Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers' programme that will engage with 2 million young people by 2020, nurturing talent for our business and the wider automotive industry. The two WMG Academies (14-19 years) nurturing the future generation of engineers and scientists will also benefit. Through a dedicated website and media channels there will be opportunities to raise the general public's awareness of low carbon vehicles and the role they play in reducing environmental impact.
Environmental benefits
By improving performance and emissions this research programme will help meet EU targets within the Climate and Energy Package (2014), which includes a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and a 20% improvement in the EU's energy efficiency. The UK strategy for ultra-low emission vehicles states the 'vision is that by 2050 almost every car and van in the UK will be an ultra-low emission vehicles; Jaguar Land Rover have reduced average tailpipe CO2 emissions across its European fleet by 32% since 2007 and by 2020 will offer customers the option of electrification on half of all its new models.
The proposed Prosperity Partnership will drive discovery and innovation in electric and hybrid vehicles using challenges co-created by University of Warwick and Jaguar Land Rover. The Partnership will provide scientific research to underpin the development-driven research, accelerating the pace of innovation in the company. The research will also explore new research questions with the potential to deliver step-changes in the electrification of vehicles. As a key UK manufacturing company, Jaguar Land Rover can exploit the impact of their innovations across their extensive supply chain.
Social Benefits
The research outputs from this project will enable Warwick to expand its energy storage and advanced propulsion research portfolio that is rooted in WMG, contributing to research to accelerate emissions and CO2 reduction in vehicles and training skilled researchers to address the skills gap in these growing areas.. Further social benefits arise from communication of the electric vehicle technologies and their underpinning science through the public engagement/outreach activities delivered as part of this Prosperity Partnership. These activities will be focused on STEM subjects via Jaguar Land Rover's Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers' programme that will engage with 2 million young people by 2020, nurturing talent for our business and the wider automotive industry. The two WMG Academies (14-19 years) nurturing the future generation of engineers and scientists will also benefit. Through a dedicated website and media channels there will be opportunities to raise the general public's awareness of low carbon vehicles and the role they play in reducing environmental impact.
Environmental benefits
By improving performance and emissions this research programme will help meet EU targets within the Climate and Energy Package (2014), which includes a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and a 20% improvement in the EU's energy efficiency. The UK strategy for ultra-low emission vehicles states the 'vision is that by 2050 almost every car and van in the UK will be an ultra-low emission vehicles; Jaguar Land Rover have reduced average tailpipe CO2 emissions across its European fleet by 32% since 2007 and by 2020 will offer customers the option of electrification on half of all its new models.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- ST MICROELECTRONICS (Collaboration)
- Solid Print3D Ltd (Collaboration)
- TRIBUS-D LTD (Collaboration)
- OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Ansys, Inc (Collaboration)
- Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC (Collaboration)
- Video Display Corporation (VDC) (Collaboration)
- Atomic Weapons Establishment (Collaboration)
- MENTOR Initiative (Collaboration)
- Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) (Collaboration)
Publications
Hunt M
(2020)
Derivation of an effective thermal electrochemical model for porous electrode batteries using asymptotic homogenisation
in Journal of Engineering Mathematics
Sarmadian A
(2023)
Experimentally-verified thermal-electrochemical simulations of a cylindrical battery using physics-based, simplified and generalised lumped models
in Journal of Energy Storage
Soulard J
(2023)
Repeatability of Tests for Validation of Iron Loss Models in Electrical Machines
in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
Wu F
(2022)
Quantitative characterisation and modelling of the effect of cut edge damage on the magnetic properties in NGO electrical steel
in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Wu R
(2019)
The Potential of SiC Cascode JFETs in Electric Vehicle Traction Inverters
in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification
Description | This EPSRC-funded Prosperity Partnership between the University of Warwick, King's College London, and the key industry partner, Jaguar Land Rover provided an understanding of fundamental engineering science and innovations to develop the next generation of electric passenger vehicles and improve the performance of existing ones. For the first time, this program brought all the drivetrain subsystems f - lithium-ion batteries, power electronics, electric motor and drive train joints - together as a holistic research team. We found that this fostered an appreciate of the whole system and how the subsystems interacted and influenced each other. The research on batteries continues in terms of integrated sensors for temperature and strain to support fundamental understanding and to validate models. The battery safety work, which began later in the project, is rapidly gaining momentum and is of wider interest. This research involves predictive modeling of battery performance and safety (fires). The bespoke calorimeter that measures heat losses on power electronics has been successful and extended to include measurement of the losses of integrated power electronics and an electric motor, fulfilling a key ambition of the program by understanding losses of subsystems then bringing them together to measure their performance as a system. This calorimeter is now used by a range of research projects and external partners. The research on the manufacturing of electrical steel resulted in a deeper understanding of the effect of cutting process on the magnetic performance, both via experiment and modeling. The power train work has provided vital insight into the wear and lubrication strategies for joints to accommodate new drive cycles. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes and continuing work on the safety and prediction of unexpected events in batteries is relevant to the aerospace, defence, and marine sectors. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Transport |
Description | * battery modeling and insight adopted into industry partner's modeling program *battery safety research used in conjunction with new non-automotive partners *instrumented cells being used in other programs *instrumented cell data available to other programs for model development and validation *bespoke calorimeter data and use for power electronic losses available to other programs for model development and understanding, packaging design, and testing of new components for both academic and industry *synergistic development of lubricant and powertrain including automotive sector and lubricant manufacturers |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Transport |
Description | CDT studentship with Jaguar Land Rover |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 06/2026 |
Description | Multiphysics Modelling of LIB Thermal Runaway and Propagation as part of Safebatt |
Amount | £3,500,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | The Faraday Institution |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 03/2025 |
Description | AWE |
Organisation | Atomic Weapons Establishment |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Discussion around the modelling of supercapacitors |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion of the extension and further development of the modelling approach initiated in the Prosperity partnership on battery degradation |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Jaguar Land Rover |
Organisation | Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC |
Department | Jaguar Land Rover |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We have co-created the research program |
Collaborator Contribution | They are providing direct cash as well as materials, personnel time and equipment access. |
Impact | New project with ST Mircroelectronics; Brandhauer have been collaborators in IUK programs: JLR is a long standing collaboration (15+ years) Disciplines: power electronics, electric machines, batteries, tribology, materials science, modelling and simulation, instrumentation |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | MTC Manufacturing technology centre HVM Catapult centre |
Organisation | Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | technical discussion |
Collaborator Contribution | Assembly and processes equipment (flux cleaning, Si gel dispenser etc.) |
Impact | under development |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Mentor Siemens |
Organisation | MENTOR Initiative |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Discussion regarding testing and innovation in power electronics packaging |
Collaborator Contribution | Power tester, T3ster equipment for power cycling and thermal characterisation |
Impact | under development |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | ST Microelectronics |
Organisation | ST Microelectronics |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We have co-created the research program in power electronics. This is now evolving into device reliability and failure analysis, important to both JLR and ST. |
Collaborator Contribution | They are providing direct cash as well as materials, personnel time and equipment access. |
Impact | New project with ST Mircroelectronics; Brandhauer have been collaborators in IUK programs: JLR is a long standing collaboration (15+ years) Disciplines: power electronics, electric machines, batteries, tribology, materials science, modelling and simulation, instrumentation. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Tribus-D |
Organisation | Tribus-D Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | discussion technical |
Collaborator Contribution | silver bonding/sintering |
Impact | on going |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | collaboration on laser surfacing on friction and wear |
Organisation | Oxford Brookes University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Theme 4 established a research relationship with Oxford Brookes University to study the friction and wear benefits of Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) for automotive applications. The surface structures have been produced as part of the H2020/NFFA project entitled "Biomimetic laser surface patterning for friction and wear reduction of automotive components" (ID: 1045) between Oxford Brookes University, Brunel University and the The Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH, Greece). The surfaces were tested at WMG for their tribological properties under lubricated conditions. Post-test characterisation is currently carried out and a publication is drafted in collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Theme 4 established a research relationship with Oxford Brookes University to study the friction and wear benefits of Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) for automotive applications. The surface structures have been produced as part of the H2020/NFFA project entitled "Biomimetic laser surface patterning for friction and wear reduction of automotive components" (ID: 1045) between Oxford Brookes University, Brunel University and the The Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH, Greece). The surfaces were tested at WMG for their tribological properties under lubricated conditions. Post-test characterisation is currently carried out and a publication is drafted in collaboration. |
Impact | ongoing |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | discussion around design of power electronic packaging |
Organisation | Solid Print3D Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | discussion ofcollaboration for 3D printing of semiconductor packaging |
Collaborator Contribution | none |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | discussion around design of power electronic packaging |
Organisation | Video Display Corporation (VDC) |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Discussion around collaboration on packaging innovations for power electronics |
Collaborator Contribution | none |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | discussion of finite element modelling |
Organisation | Ansys, Inc |
Department | ANSYS UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | discussion of finite element modelling |
Collaborator Contribution | none |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EPSRC Engineering Net Zero Week |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Prosperity Partnership had a research poster at the EPSRC Engineering Net Zero Week in Glasgow to follow on from COP26 In addition, Barbara Shollock to part in a panel discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.ukri.org/news/epsrc-engineering-net-zero-week-20-to-24-june/ |
Description | Presentation and partnership exploration |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A presentation entitled 'Thermophysical behaviour of a LIB cell during its operation and lifetime' to National Energy Research Lab (NREL) USA leaders. We explored research synergies with the ambition to set up a strategic partnership and pursue joint research and funding. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |