Automotive and transportation

Karma Automotive resurrects iconic electric vehicle using Siemens solutions Product Simcenter, Polarion Simcenter services, simulation Business challenges and testing solutions help Karma Electric or hybrid cars aren’t taking over the roads just yet for a number of reasons, includ- Develop a luxury electric Automotive go above and ing their elevated price tags and still limited hybrid beyond NVH optimization autonomy. In addition, while many consider Optimize NVH performance that the real beauty resides on the inside, a The emergence of EV sports cars Reduce the number of design key differentiator for people who choose a iterations The time when electric cars were considered new car remains its appearance. Tesla was part of some distant, exotic future (due to the first to understand this when releasing its our limited technological capacity or the Model S onto the market in 2012. With it, Keys to success perceived dominance of oil) is long gone. A Tesla managed to reach a distinct market seg- Digitalize development little more than two decades ago, the iconic ment that had previously been excluded from processes Prius seriously changed the game. Today, the game of electrification: customers who more than 12 million hybrid or electric cars Expert assistance from preferred a luxury, sporty design. have been sold worldwide and the numbers Simcenter Engineering keep climbing: not only is electrification services In the meantime, many OEMs have added at now considered one of the biggest revolu- least one high-end, luxury hybrid or electric Use a combination of simula- tions of the , humanity car to their fleets – examples include the tion and testing in vehicle has begun to conceive a future without gas- Honda NSX, LC500h, BMW i8, Jaguar development oline and combustion altogether. I-Pace and Porsche Panamera. Adopt Polarion ALM for soft- ware development

Results Went beyond vehicle NVH optimization and improved the overall development process Improved NVH with a mini- mum number of design iterations Combined both test and simu- lation in one platform Enabled collaboration among teams and divisions with streamlined data exchange

siemens.com/software “When we took this project on, it wasn’t only about the development of the product, but also of the process that we were building at Karma. The partnership we put together with Siemens really allowed seamless interac- tion from the program man- agers, engineers and technicians.” Erik Keipper Director of Vehicle Integration Karma Automotive

Many startups are trying their luck in this interior of the , but incorpo- segment (Tesla also started small). While rates an A123 battery, charger and electrical many companies died or were eaten along controls. It is “the car you drive when you the way, some emerged as new, respectable want to be seen,” says Bob Kruse, chief tech- e-brands, ready to put their prototypes nical officer of Karma Automotive. nose-to-nose with the establishment. As a startup, Karma had to address some Karma Automotive – the story of the typical consequences of limited of a phoenix resources. For one, time is more expensive One of these startups is Karma Automotive, for startups than for established players. a -based carmaker that rose from Also, there are hardly, if any, second the ashes (or rather assets) of Fisker chances. As a result, digitalization truly has Automotive in 2014. In the resurrection pro- become a matter of life and death. “It is now cess, Karma managed to preserve the good of more crucial importance than ever that and overcome the bad: they retained the models and analytics properly duplicate beautiful Italian design of their cars, which what happens in the physical world, so that held a lot of appeal to their customers, but when we do go back to the actual vehicle, significantly upgraded the technology. The the virtually obtained solutions fit with a result is a luxury electric hybrid sedan that high degree of confidence – and they actu- maintains much of the original exterior and ally are going to work,” Kruse confirms. “ By using the Siemens consulting services and software tools, we were able to get it right with a minimum amount of iterations.”

Bob Kruse Chief Technical Officer Karma Automotive “Polarion is one tracking tool to cascade targets down from vehicle level all the way to component level, then goes back up to vali- date the car at each of the intermediate and full-vehicle levels.” Garren Salibian Lead of Vehicle Integration Karma Automotive

A relentless pursuit of excellent NVH Karma,” explains Erik Keipper, director of With a hybrid-electric sports car, engine vehicle integration at Karma Automotive. noise is a key performance attribute to man- “The partnership we put together with age throughout the entire development pro- Siemens really allowed seamless interaction cess. Engine noise needs to be from the program managers, engineers and brand-specific. This isn’t an easy task, technicians.” because “there is no history of what an elec- tric sports car engine should sound like,” One of the keys to success for such an over- says Jud Knittel, noise, vibration and harsh- arching vehicle development program – ness (NVH) lead engineer at Karma featuring not just product but also process Automotive. – is to frontload the vehicle design defini- tion phase as much as possible, such that The main issue with hybrid-electric cars is last-minute, expensive corrections in the that the lack of the noise-masking effect of validation phase can be reduced to their a combustion engine makes a lot of other absolute minimum or even avoided. Karma sounds more apparent, such as road or selected Simcenter™ 3D software for this HVAC noise. Much more effort must be task. Combining all the necessary high-end applied to reduce these noise sources than solutions and solvers, Simcenter 3D also for traditional cars. In addition, efforts to allows for optimization of different attri- optimize NVH can actually become counter- butes, with best-in-class computer-aided productive if they have a negative impact on engineering (CAE) pre- and postprocessing other attributes such as such as weight, capabilities and the software’s unique CAD- strength, durability and ride comfort. integrated and managed environment. In particular, Karma used Simcenter 3D’s Using testing and simulation (sometimes hybrid modeling method to frontload the simultaneously) is essential in maintaining overall vehicle optimization effort across this balance. Karma understood this at the multiple performance attributes. In this very beginning of the development project. approach, components under development are modeled with 3D CAE and existing ones A well-oiled tandem of simulation and test with accurate reduced representations “When we took this project on, it wasn’t only derived from tests results, such as fre- about the development of the product, but quency response functions (FRFs) and also of the process that we were building at modes. In addition to Simcenter 3D CAE software, Simcenter Testlab™ software and Simcenter SCADAS hardware were selected to carry out NVH testing. The seamless combination of these tools enables coverage of a wide range of testing capabilities such as experi- mental modal analysis, operational data col- lection and sound quality assessment. Besides fast and accurate data acquisition and test results, Simcenter Testlab software also provides a lot of engineering know-how and user guidance. Karma especially appre- ciated how the software’s intelligent data Like many OEMs, Karma realizes that simula- viewing capabilities and displays allowed tion cannot replace physical testing entirely, the company to look at the same data from but Karma staff are convinced that it helps multiple angles. “We have a huge number of them to achieve better NVH performance in functionalities we have to go through for less time. A proper combination of test and the same dataset, and all of these are avail- simulation allows engineers to determine able at the click of a mouse in Simcenter whether a simulation model represents the Testlab,” Knittel confirms. reality as closely as possible. But it also

yields more detailed insights, such as how to Testing is not only important during the include damping in the model, or how to benchmarking, target setting and prototype deal with so-called hybrid approaches. performance validation phase; it also plays a crucial role in leveraging simulation to its Simcenter Engineering and fullest potential. Especially in cases like Consulting services Karma’s, where certain components are still The project involved development of process under development and being explored in as much as product. For this reason, both Simcenter 3D, and other parts already exist Simcenter software and Simcenter™ as prototypes, test-based validation through Engineering and Consulting services proved FRFs and modes in Simcenter Testlab is of to be a perfect fit. Simcenter personnel were paramount importance to the success of the on site throughout most of the develop- larger vehicle development process, in ment, assisting with the benchmarking and terms of both speed and accuracy. target setting of the project, and with the “[Simcenter consultants] also supplied the know-how and expertise to allow Karma to continue the process and analysis by themselves… they supplied the expertise we need, so that we can continue the processes and analyses ourselves in the future.”

Jud Knittel NVH Lead Engineer Karma Automotive Solutions/Services analyses and validation of the targets level and get access to all the required data Simcenter 3D through CAE and test. It was the specialized and analytics. Polarion enables you to have siemens.com/simcenter3d services that enabled Karma “to use math full control over your entire application life- and science, as opposed to trial and error, to cycle, without losing any of the agility that Siemcenter Engineering get it right with a minimum number of itera- is often required within separate teams.” As siemens.com/simcenter tions,” Kruse explains. part of the larger Siemens software family, Simcenter SCADAS Polarion works seamlessly with the siemens.com/simcenterscadas In addition to the technology and software, Simcenter software that was used for NVH Simcenter Testlab Karma appreciated the in-depth knowledge optimization and multi-attribute balancing siemens.com/simcentertestlab of Simcenter consultants. “They also sup- campaign by Karma. plied the know-how and expertise to allow Polarion Karma to continue the process and analysis Going above and beyond siemens.com/polarion by themselves,” says Knittel. “They are the “By using the Siemens consulting services ones who not only facilitated seamless oper- and software tools, we were able to get it Customer’s primary business ation of the software involved, but also of right with a minimum amount of iterations,” interaction between the program managers Kruse says. “From a technical point of view Karma Automotive is a luxury and the technicians. They supplied the the targets weren’t only met, but beaten.” electric automaker based in expertise we need, so that we can continue Irvine, California with manu- the processes and analyses ourselves in the It may be bold but perhaps fair to say that facturing operations in Moreno future.” Karma has succeeded where Fisker failed: Valley, California. The com- on the hard business side of things. With pany is owned by Chinese Expert knowledge, collaboration and tech- the , superior design not only automotive supply company nology transfer are the differentiating pillars meets economics, but does so in an envi- Group. upon which Simcenter engineering services ronmentally friendly and acoustically enjoy- www.karmaautomotive.com were built and operate today. All three are able way. These features are considered to vital in comprehensive vehicle development be among the most important success Customer location processes like Karma’s. parameters of the 21st century. Irvine, California The added perk of Polarion Using the Simcenter tools and services for USA Dealing with many software capabilities more than four years, Karma went beyond across multiple attributes, divisions and NVH optimization to optimize its overall teams requires a powerful data tracking and development process. Combining both test management tool. Polarion ALM™ software, and simulation in one platform uniquely another solution in the extensive Siemens enables collaboration among teams and Digital Industries Software portfolio, divisions with streamlined data exchange. addresses the challenge. “Polarion is one tracking tool to cascade targets down from “Now that we have a process in place at vehicle level all the way to component level, Karma, and we’ve successfully put our proj- then goes back up to validate the car at ect on the market by utilizing this process, each of the intermediate and full-vehicle we’re excited to take on the next challenge,” levels,” says Garren Salibian, the lead of Keipper concludes. “Soon, hopefully, a vehicle integration at Karma. “It has a lot whole host of electric products and vehicles more depth to it than a regular spreadsheet will fill the dealership.” that ticks boxes. You can dive in on each

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