Hybrid Electric Vehicle Architecture Selection for EcoCAR 3 Competition

This paper presents the work performed by the Wayne State University (WSU) EcoCAR 3 student design competition team in its preparation for the hybrid electric vehicle architecture selection process. This process is recognized as one of the most pivotal steps in the EcoCAR 3 competition. With a key lesson learned from participation in EcoCAR 2 on “truly learning how to learn,” the team held additional training sessions on architecture selection tools and exercises with the goal of improving both fundamental and procedural skills. The work conducted represents a combination of the architecture feasibility study and final selection process in terms of content and procedure, respectively. At the end of this study the team was able to identify four potentially viable hybrid powertrain architectures, and thoroughly analyze the performance and packaging feasibility of various component options. However, only estimated or limited vehicle specification on competition donated components were available to the team. Argonne National Laboratory's (ANL) Autonomie software was used to simulate the performance and energy consumption of identified architectures with component sizing based on meeting the EcoCAR 3 Vehicle Technical Specifications (VTS) design requirements established by the competition. In parallel with these modeling and simulation activities, the team also performed a component packaging feasibility study for all major powertrain components using the Siemens NX software.