Exploring the Impact of Vehicle Lightweighting in Terms of Energy Consumption: Analysis and Simulation

Nowadays, the topic of reducing vehicles' energy consumption is very important. In particular, for electric vehicles, the reduction of energy consumption is necessary to remedy the most critical problems associated with this type of vehicle: the problem of the limited range of the electric traction, also associated with the long recharging times of the battery packs. To reduce use-phase impacts and energy consumptions of vehicles, it is useful to reduce the vehicle mass (lightweighting). The aim of this work is to analyze the parameters of a vehicle which influence the results of lightweighting, in order to provide guidelines for the creation of a vehicle model suitable for studying the effects of lightweighting. This study was carried out through two borderline case models, a compact car and an N1 vehicle, and simulating these through a consolidated vehicle simulation tool useful for consumption estimations. This study shows that the parameters that most influence the outcome of lightweighting are the rolling resistance, the battery pack characteristics, the aerodynamic coefficients, and the transmission efficiency, while the inertia contributions can be considered negligible. An analysis was also carried out with the variation of the driving cycle considered.

Automated summary

Nowadays, reducing vehicles' energy consumption is crucial, especially for electric vehicles. Lightweighting, or reducing the vehicle mass, can effectively decrease use-phase impacts and energy consumption. This study analyzes the parameters that influence lightweighting results and provides guidelines for creating a suitable vehicle model. Through simulation, it is found that factors such as rolling resistance, battery characteristics, aerodynamic coefficients, and transmission efficiency significantly affect lightweighting outcomes, while inertia contributions are negligible. The study also considers the variation of driving cycles.