ECOCHAMPS

European COmpetitiveness in Commercial Hybrid and AutoMotive PowertrainS

The Ecochamps project focuses on the development of efficient, compact, lightweight, reliable and above all cost-efficient hybrid drive components and electrified auxiliary units for powertrains in passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Within the Ecochamps project consortium, 25 partners are working on this, including vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and research institutions.

The priority measures in the Ecochamps project to achieve the project goals are standardization, modularization and scalability. The involvement of the various vehicle segments defines a broad field of requirements in which commonalities but also differences can be identified. The Ecochamps project is divided into two general work packages in which on the one hand the goals for the different vehicle segments are defined and on the other hand standardization and modularization are promoted.

Another five work packages follow, in the framework of which five demonstrator vehicles ranging from small and compact passenger cars (B and C segment) to platform trucks, city buses and heavy semitrailer tractors are assembled. For all five demonstrator vehicles, comparable project goals have been set, which set an increase in powertrain efficiency of 20% and a weight saving of 20% for the newly developed components, whereby the costs may increase by a maximum of 10% compared to the conventional powertrain.

The reference for weight and efficiency for each work package is an individually selected vehicle, which was the best in its segment in 2013. The additional costs are related to the current, conventional base vehicle of the respective Ecochamps prototype. Among the five demonstrator vehicles, Fiat 500X and Renault Megane are two passenger cars equipped with a combination of P1 and P4 hybrids or a 48 V P2 hybrid powertrain as part of Ecochamps. The Ecochamps demonstrators will also include the Iveco Daily platform truck, which will be fitted with a parallel P3 hybrid powertrain, and a serial hybrid bus from MAN.
The fifth vehicle in the Ecochamps project, a heavy tractor unit from DAF, will be equipped with a parallel hybrid powertrain (P2) with the participation of the ika. In addition, the supplier Bosch is installing an electrical waste heat recovery system (eWHR) that converts thermal energy from the exhaust gas and makes it available in the vehicle's high-voltage system.

In this demonstrator, whose construction will begin at the end of 2016, the presented generic energy management approach will be implemented and put into operation for the first time. The demonstration of the generic approach in interaction with other drive trains is initially simulated. The Ecochamps project is scheduled to end in April 2018.

ECOCHAMPS-Logo

Contact

Damian Backes M.Sc.
Manager Research Area
Energy Management and Drivetrains
+49 241 80 25420
Email

Project duration

06/2015 – 12/2018

Project partner

DAF, CRF, Daimler, FPT, IVECO, MAN, Renault, Bosch, Magna, GKN, Gardner Denver, Johnson Matthey, Samsung, European Thermodynamics, AVL, FEV, Ricardo, tecnalia, Uniresearch, Fraunhofer IVI, ika, EU, virtual vehicle, Queen Mary University London, TUe

Project website

ecochamps.eu

Supported by

[Logo: Europäische Union]

Weblinks

MTZ-Artikel 10/2016
ATZ-Artikel 09/2016

Address

Institute for Automotive Engineering
RWTH Aachen University
Steinbachstraße 7
52074 Aachen · Germany

office@ika.rwth-aachen.de
+49 241 80 25600

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