SCIENCE
Testing a hybrid bus
File: Kari Tammi
Figure 3. A hybrid bus in VTT’s heavy-duty vehicle test facility.
Building national and international networks Many national EV programmes utilise a “living laboratory approach” to learn the best solutions for using EVs. This approach provides an open laboratory for the users interested in EV-related businesses. VTT is one of the key players in Electric Vehicle Systems (EVE), the new Finnish national electric vehicle programme. VTT is in charge of Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECV), one of the five EVE projects. VTT is also involved in two other EVE projects: Eco Urban Living (VTT’s activities relating to performance and development of passenger cars) and Evelina (VTT’s activities relating to intelligent transport system services). ECV creates a large and versatile worldclass research and test infrastructure for electric commercial vehicles, encompassing a broad scope of vehicles from buses, vans and trucks to light and heavy mobile machines. The project unites most of the Finnish companies and research centres working in this area. The main research topics are hybrid allelectric buses, light and heavy mobile machinery, electrochemical energy storage and other electrical components for power transmission in these vehicles. ECV covers the entire innovation chain, starting from the design and performance of individual components, through the combining of components with subsystems and systems both separately and as part of the electric vehi22
cle, the laboratory testing of components, systems and entire vehicles, simulation and modelling at all levels and, finally, to field testing of electric vehicles and analysis and breakdown of their performance. In ECV, Veolia Transport and VTT collaborate in starting up the first electric-bus field test in Finland. Veolia Transport will operate pre-commercial and commercial battery-electric buses in Espoo, and VTT will support the project with in-depth performance evaluations. In addition, an electric research bus is being built to serve component and subsystem development and benchmarking. The severe operating conditions and comprehensive setup of the project have attracted both Finnish and international industrial partners. The existing vehicle laboratories are being upgraded by adding a heavy power source and battery simulator for testing of electric commercial vehicle powertrains. To meet the growing need for research on energy storage and traction batteries, a completely new battery research laboratory is currently being built in the vicinity of VTT’s vehicle laboratory. The battery facility enables characterisation of state-of-the-art electrochemical power sources suitable for different applications, and serves as a knowledge pool for the entire electric vehicle cluster. The laboratory’s activities cover the whole range from individual battery cells to complete heavy battery packs. In addition to performance tests, the batteries are subjected to
Kari Tammi, who is a D.Sc. in Systems Technology and Automation, works as a Research Professor and Team Leader at VTT. His research focuses on eco-efficient machines, the energy-efficiency of machines and vehicles through electrification, and the related dynamic phenomena. Tammi has worked at VTT since 2000 researching dynamic phenomena in machines, measurement and modelling of such phenomena, and control technology. In 2007–2008 he was a post-doc visiting researcher at North Carolina State University.
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