Boosting the Success of Hybrid Vehicles

The ECOCHAMPS project is developing technologies for hybrid electric passenger and commercial vehicles that provide improved performance and comfort, lead to less CO₂ emissions and will make hybrid vehicles more affordable. ECOCHAMPS follows a holistic approach to make hybrid vehicles more successful in the market. This approach is based on standardisation and modularisation to bring down the costs of hybrid electric vehicles, and by offering more functionality to make hybrid electric vehicles more attractive. Standardisation and modularisation of hybrid components across vehicle classes will decrease the costs of hybrid vehicles. However, for commercial hybrid vehicles (buses, medium duty and heavy duty trucks) no standards yet exist. Through a broad cooperation of automotive specialists from various domains, ECOCHAMPS will propose a Modular system and Standardisation Framework (MSF) that, for the first time, recommends standards for hybrid electric powertrain components for commercial vehicles. At the same time, ECOCHAMPS aims to increase market uptake by offering more vehicle functionality and improved powertrain efficiency through the optimal specification and integration of hybrid technologies. The results will be demonstrated within five different vehicles, ranging from passenger cars to a heavy duty truck.