The Ever-Changing Powertrain - How OTA Makes Powertrains Change Over Vehicle Lifetime

Until about 2015 the design and calibration of a powertrain were considered fixed after the vehicle left the production plant. The developers considered efficiency and performance degradation due to wear and added the required procedures to follow when replacing components. The technology advancements and increasing share of SW-based functionality have led to the point that since around 2020 Over-The-Air SW updates during the life of the vehicle have become a common practice. The customers of the OEMs have started to request this functionality as well. When an SW update is possible also Upgrades by means of SW are a possibility. For the powertrain, this can vary from performance gains to trailer towing efficiency. The UN regulation R156 for Software Update Management System defines conditions to implement such upgrades while still complying with the type approval. The codification makes them clear for both OEM and Technical services. This regulation on one side means an extra effort for OEMs to ensure every SW update is covered by existing or updated type approval; on the other side, it has given a clear direction on how SW Upgrades that affect the type approval can be applied during vehicle lifetime. Some of the aspects of type approval, in such cases, require more detailed analysis, especially in the scope of durability assumptions, emission performance, or range evaluation. In this paper, the content of the UNECE R156 regulation is explained. In addition, a traditional powertrain type approval setup and timeline are compared against how such a setup and timeline can be when the SW Upgrades are used during the vehicle lifetime. The paper will consider Gasoline combustion-engined powertrains and Battery Electric powertrains.