The main aim of the work is to gain a better insight into the operation of near-future advanced internal combustion engine strategies. Such understanding is vital for the development of high-efficiency, ultra-low-emissions engines to meet environmental regulations. For example, the European automotive manufacturers have committed to reduce fleet average CO2 emissions to 140g/km by 2008, with 120g/km projected by 2012. Hybridized SI-HCCI-SI engine technology is a potential solution towards achieving such targets in improving fuel consumption and developing near-zero emissions vehicles. Such hybridized operation could enable a reduction in UK CO2 levels of ~0.7million metric tons per annum (for a representative 2.0 l gasoline engine size). Furthermore, the benefits of 99% reduction (c.f. SI) in NOx emissions and virtually no soot emissions during HCCI mode of operation can be realised with this technology. In addition to experimental research, computational modelling has been utilized by the research community to gain insight into the transients associated with such a hybridized engine operation. However, the existing models are empirical in nature and rely on profiles from experiments. This may also be the reason for the absence of numerical analysis to investigate the effect of the complex and dynamic transient phenomena on the regulated emissions. The proposed research involves the development of an advanced, predictive phenomenological model to simulate the SI-HCCI-SI engine transients. The model will be validated against measurements and further improved with the help of some new experiments suggested in this proposal. The proposed work comprises of three parts: 1) Development of a novel computational model to account for spontaneous multi point ignition (HCCI-like) as well as premixed flame propagation (SI-like) during the transients. The model includes detailed chemical kinetics description and accounts for inhomogeneities in composition and temperature, thus proving beneficial in understanding the impact of the transient processes on CO, HC and NOx emissions. 2) Understanding transient-like operation by carrying out cost-effective experiments involving operating conditions representative of the complex transient phenomena. These measurements will also be used in validating the formulated model. 3) Model validation against experimental results obtained from fully variable valve timing (FVVT) capable SI-HCCI-SI transient engine operation. Overall, this congruent experimental and modelling approach involves sharing the know-how and expertise between academic research and industrial partners aimed at realising ultra-low emissions engine performance.

Project BattCon is an innovative and technical project to pilot a new battery and battery technology testing facility within the UK and provide Lotus with the understanding to invest in a range of containerised test facilities in line with electric vehicle and energy storage market growth. As automotive and other sectors develop new and novel battery technologies there is an increased demand for suitable battery testing facilities and Project BattCon begins to address this problem by providing available and competitive battery testing opportunities for the UK battery supply chain and OEMs. The new state-of-the-art facilities will enable various battery characterisation tests, performance evaluations and component and lifetime testing to be performed under controlled conditions, providing feasibility study support early in the design phase of a new battery, and validation of the mature pack designs for implementation into product. Performance and component testing will include, but not limited to, capacity determination, resistance mapping, current and power mapping, open circuit voltage (OCV) determination and heat capacity. Lifetime testing is comprised of low voltage cycling, high voltage cycling, self-discharge determination, storage aging, cycle aging, drive cycle aging and orientation. Lotus will provide a safe area with specialist staff experienced in testing batteries, an activity that inherently carries significant potential risk. Companies new to the technology and those who would otherwise need to invest in additional test facilities, can save the cost and inevitable time delays in maturing their range of processes and systems, required to develop and test their technologies. Lotus providing a secure facility enables customers to dramatically reduce their development times and costs and enable products to be taken to market sooner and with reduced risks.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are far more complex than conventional vehicles. There are numerous challenges facing the engineer to optimise the design and choice of system components as well as their control systems. At the component level there is a need to obtain a better understanding of the basic science/physics of new subsystems together with issues of their interconnectivity and overall performance at the system level. The notion of purpose driven models requires models of differing levels of fidelity, e.g. control, diagnostics and prognostics. Whatever the objective of these models, they will differ from detailed models which will provide a greater insight and understanding at the component level. Thus there is a need to develop a systematic approach resulting in a set of guidelines and tools which will be of immense value to the design engineer in terms of best practice. The Fundamental Understanding of Technologies for Ultra Reduced Emission Vehicles (FUTURE) consortium will address the above need for developing tools and methodologies. A systematic and unified approach towards component level modelling will be developed, underpinned by a better understanding of the fundamental science of the essential components of a FUTURE hybrid electrical vehicle. The essential components will include both energy storage devices (fuel cells, batteries and ultra-capacitors) and energy conversion devices (electrical machine drives and power electronics). Detailed mathematical models will be validated against experimental data over their full range of operation, including the extreme limits of performance. Reduced order lumped parameter models are then to be derived and verified against these validated models, with the level of fidelity being defined by the purpose for which the model is to be employed. The work will be carried out via three inter-linked work packages, each having two sub-work packages. WP1 will address the detailed component modelling for the energy storage devices, WP2 will address the detailed component modelling for the energy conversion devices and WP3 will address reduced order modelling and control optimisation. The tasks will be carried out iteratively from initial component level models from WP1 and WP2 to WP3, subsequent reduced order models developed and verified against initial models, and banks of linear-time invariant models developed for piecewise control optimisation. Additionally, models of higher fidelity are to be obtained for the purpose of on-line diagnosis. The higher fidelity models will be able to capture the transient conditions which may contain information on the known failure modes. In addition to optimising the utility of healthy components in their normal operating ranges, to ensure maximum efficiency and reduced costs, further optimisation, particularly at the limits of performance where component stress applied in a controlled manner is considered to be potentially beneficial, the impact of ageing and degradation is to be assessed. Methodologies for prognostics developed in other industry sectors, e.g. aerospace, nuclear, will be reviewed for potential application and/or tailoring for purpose. Models for continuous component monitoring for the purpose of prognosis will differ from those for control and diagnosis, and it is envisaged that other non-parametric feature-based models and techniques for quantification of component life linked to particular use-case scenarios will be required to be derived. All members of the consortia have specific individual roles as well as cross-discipline roles and interconnected collaborative activities. The multi-disciplinary nature of the proposed team will ensure that the outputs and outcomes of this consortia working in close collaboration with an Industrial Advisory Committee will deliver research solutions to the HEV issues identified.

The UK government is determined to address the challenges of tackling climate change and maintaining energy security in a way that minimises costs and maximises benefits to the economy. Among all sources of CO2 emissions in the UK, the energy supply accounts for about 40%, followed by the transport for over 25%. To meet the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, large proportion of electricity generated from low carbon sources integrated with mass adoption of electric vehicles (EV) offer a great potential. Likewise, the Chinese 12th National Economic and Social Development Five-Year Plan has set the target of 3.5% reduction per unit of GDP in both energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, and identified new energy and clean energy vehicles among the seven priority industries in the next five years from 2012. It is clear that both countries are fully committed to a planned 'decarbonisation' of their respective energy systems. However, both face the challenges of planning and building the suitable infrastructure, and of managing the resources to ensure future power systems operate more reliably, more flexibly, and more economically, by integrating and coordinating the actions of all actors. It has been widely recognized that electric vehicles could both benefit from and help to drive forward the development of smart grids where renewable resources are widely and substantially employed. However, a number of technical challenges are still open for further exploitation. The proposed collaborative interdisciplinary research will investigate and develop an intelligent grid interfaced vehicle eco-charging (iGIVE) system for more reliable, more flexible and efficient, and more environmental friendly smart gird solutions for seamless integration of distributed low-carbon intermittent power generation and large number of EVs. To achieve this, a multilayer hierarchical power and information flow framework for monitoring and optimal control of the EV charging while minimising the volume of information passed to the utility control centers will be investigated first. Within this framework, a variable rate bi-directional high performance EV battery charging unit based on a patented technology will be developed, and battery management and optimal EV charging and discharging dispatching strategies will be investigated. Other issues associated to the charging stations, such as electromagnetic interference and harmonics generation and their impact on environment and electricity grid will also be studied. Finally, simulation platform will be built to investigate the interactions of EV-related different participants and their impact on the grid operations. A test bed to verify the design will be developed and a joint UK-China joint laboratory on smart grid and EV integration will be established, bringing together key academic and industry partners in smart grid and EV from UK and China. Both system operators and EV industry in the UK, China and other parts of the world will benefit considerably from the development of intelligent EV eco-charging systems when a large number of EVs are adopted by the public and greater amounts of renewable power are utilized, as they provide an adaptive and intelligent framework and EV charging systems to economically, efficiently and environment-friendly accommodate charging requirements as well as providing ancillary service to the grid integrated with larger amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources and thereby enable the decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry and the transport sector.

As the automotive industry transitions away from the the internal combustion engine and towards electrified powertrains there is a significant demand for reskilling staff at all levels. This applies to businesses at the OEM level and down the supply chain in PEMD components and the HV Systems they work within, to create an electric vehicle powertrain. To address this requirement, the Lotus Technical Training Centre (LTTC) has been created at our Wellesbourne facility in the West Midlands. This project will provide a class leading training course in which PEMD aspects of the HV system will be explored in isolation, and in context of the system they form a part of. This will be supported by the development of a dedicated training rig onto which the HV architecture is laid out. This enhances the training experience by allowing components and the wider system to be explored physically. This project will act as an enabler for further course development post-project, on aspects of the system and safe working practices, to support operators, technicians and engineers to retrain and develop skills appropriate to their interactions with electrified vehicles.