Reducing fuel consumption through modular vehicle architectures

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• 作者：Irene Carvalho^a ; ^{irene.carvalho@ist.utl.pt} ; ; Thomas Baier^b ; ; Ricardo Simoes^c ; ^d ; ; Arlindo Silva^a
• 关键词：Lightweighting ; Modularity ; Fuel economy ; Design for flexibility in use ; Lean driving systems ; Driving patterns
• 刊名：Applied Energy
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：2_03062619
• 类别：pw
• 出版时间：May, 2012
• 卷：93
• 期：Complete
• 页码：556-563
• 文件大小：1500 K

摘要

By identifying energy waste streams in vehicles fuel consumption and introducing the concept of lean driving systems, a technological gap for reducing fuel consumption was identified. This paper proposes a solution to overcome this gap, through a modular vehicle architecture aligned with driving patterns. It does not address detailed technological solutions; instead it models the potential effects in fuel consumption through a modular concept of a vehicle and quantifies their dependence on vehicle design parameters (manifesting as the vehicle mass) and user behavior parameters (driving patterns manifesting as the use of a modular car in lighter and heavier mode, in urban and highway cycles). Modularity has been functionally applied in automotive industry as manufacture and assembly management strategies; here it is thought as a product development strategy for flexibility in use, driven by environmental concerns and enabled by social behaviors. The authors argue this concept is a step forward in combining technological solutions and social behavior, of which eco-driving is a vivid example, and potentially evolutionary to a lean, more sustainable, driving culture.