Development of Electric and Range-Extended Electric Vehicles Through Collaboration Partnerships

In the last few years, almost every automotive OEM has announced the development of some sort of electric vehicles. Many of those have already been shown to the public, either as concept vehicles, or as pre-production demonstration vehicles. In order to support the development of this technology, FEV has, over the last 18 months, developed more than 20 different electric, or range-extended electric vehicles. All those vehicles are driving successfully on the road today, either as demonstration or fleet vehicles. The development of those vehicles was only possible through partnerships, and very close cooperation with key suppliers. In contrast to conventional powertrain technology, key components (e.g. battery, traction motor, electric HVAC, inverters) are not yet off-the-shelf technology and need further development and adaptation to the new vehicle concepts. Therefore, the integration of all partners has proven to be key to the rapid development of electric and hybrid vehicle technology. An overview of some of the vehicles which have been developed at FEV is provided. In most cases, those key partners were already involved in the early concept definition phase. They were continuously involved as the projects evolved, in some cases even co-located into the FEV project center, to ensure best possible communication and resolution of issues.