Reducing the Energy Consumption of Electric Vehicles

Currently more and more attention is paid to energy consumption and it is especially noticeable in electric vehicles. Generally, when thinking about the idea of reducing the energy consumption in an electric vehicle there are two methods. The first one is introducing new technical solutions in the design for reducing energy consumption. The second way is driving and performing other maintenance tasks in a manner that reduce energy consumption. A special case of the use of these methods is with vehicles built specifically for energy efficient racing, where the criterion of energy saving is much more critical than in the ordinary, commercial vehicles. The task of ensuring minimum energy consumption during driving is quite demanding and the decisions taken as early as at the vehicle concept stage can have a great impact on the final result. The paper presents the experience of the Silesian University of Technology team gained while constructing the high-performance electric vehicles designed for Shell Eco-marathon, beginning with the selected methodology for the design of such vehicles by solving partial design issues for some components of the vehicle as well as studies carried both on test stands and on the racetrack. Special attention was paid to the method of dealing with the determination when reducing the interaction of design features to evaluate their influence on the energy consumption. The second part of the paper deals with the evaluation of the driving strategy during the race and its impact on reducing the energy consumption. The method to determine the outcome of the set strategy and how to select the race strategy is presented along with the optimal strategy in specific structural and environmental constraints. The paper summarizes a few year experience in the design and testing of two vehicles built for Shell Eco-marathon, which is world famous competition for Prototype and UrbanConcept electric battery powered vehicles.