DOMUS

Design OptiMisation for efficient electric vehicles based on a USer-centric approach

Range anxiety is one of the main barriers to EV adoption by the broader customer pool; moreover, the ambient conditions (e.g. extreme hot or cold weather) profoundly affect the actual driving range which can be achieved.

As cabin heating and cooling represent the highest auxiliary loads drawing on the vehicle’s energy resources, DOMUS aims to deliver advanced solutions to lower significantly the energy demand for cabin conditioning while improving the user experience by developing, validating and applying a user-centric approach to EV design.

As a result DOMUS aims to reduce the overall energy consumption of future EVs in order to increase 25% of the electric range for different ambient conditions. Within this framework, 3D CFD cabin simulations for different boundary conditions were built and examined by ika. The videos below show such simulation models. In a first video, streamlines are shown which flow into the cabin from the air vents and leave the cabin at the recirculation outlet. This outlet is located in the passenger's footwell. The other video shows an use case where the cabin has to be conditioned with cold air, because of the high solar radiation and high ambient temperatures.