The ELVA project (Advance Electric Vehicle Architectures) was co-funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme. The project was formed by a consortium of seven partners: Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika) of RWTH Aachen University; Applus+ IDIADA; Volkswagen; Renault; Centro Richerche Fiat (CRF); Continental and the Swedish Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre (SAFER).
The objectives of the ELVA project were to generate, investigate and analyse innovative design concepts for electric vehicles (EV). Also, to deliver new modular architectures with the same level of safety as today's best known practices, while minimizing weight, maximizing energy efficiency, optimizing ergonomics and interior space, all at affordable costs. The level of comfort and performance must also be improved. All of the development strategies were summarized in form of best practices, which have been made available for designers and engineers.
The project characterized for strong interaction amongst the participants during the design loops. The result was a set of three EV concepts that were developed from zero, i.e. no modification of existing platforms was done.
A special interactive design tool was developed in the end, where the main attributes of an electric vehicle are associated providing valuable tips on what the main interactions of all vehicle parameters are.