Ricardo Quarterly Review Q2 2019

Interview Marek Reichman, Chief creative officer, Carbon-free railways Why smart electrification and hybrid trains could be the answer A focus on the latest in technology, innovation and sustainability Shipping and CO2 A promising climate-neutral fuel is on the horizon, says Ricardo report

Smart, urban – and every inch a

BMWRicardo’s long-standing co-operation with BMW moves into the mid-sized scooter segment - with premium results Delivering Excellence Through Innovation & Technology

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Copyright © Ricardo plc | V1 19F U 11 Photo courtesy of Network Rail of Network courtesy Photo

CONTENTS Ricardo Quarterly Review • Q2 2019

NEWS FEATURES 08 Industry news...... 04 On track for carbon- Industry focus shifts to batteries; hydrogen hopes up; Ferrari’s signs of free rail traction...... 11 With the new focus on carbon emissions the times; automakers face CO2 crunch; and sustainability, railways are busy Citroën’s future vision devising smarter approaches to electrification.Anthony Smith explains how RQ viewpoint ...... 07 these new developments can also help air Jamie Pitcairn quality and noise Compostable bioplastics cut pollution and benefit the economy, argues Ricardo Energy & Environment’s technical director Every inch a BMW...... 16 Ricardo’s long-standing co-operation with

BMW Motorrad has helped advance the Ricardo news...... 24 development of a new generation of premium Managing digital risk in connected transport mid-sized scooters. Jesse Crosse reports on systems; global engineering collaboration the creative processes behind the new and 21 aided by VR; ZEV vision for UK goods innovative C400 series transport; offshore wind expansion Sailing on solar...... 21 Shipping is responsible for 3 percent of global Q & A CO2 emissions but has been slow to embrace Marek Reichman...... 08 technical change. Yet, says a new Ricardo Chief creative officer, Aston Martin Lagonda report, there could be an answer in the shape Branching out from its James Bond-style of green ammonia. Tony Lewin explains GT sports cars, Aston Martin is adding sensational mid-engined hypercars, SUVs and all-electric super-luxury . Tony Lewin asks how the transformation will unfold

Ricardo contacts and locations: The task of RQ is to highlight Client confidentiality is of the utmost importance www.ricardo.com/contacts the latest thinking in global to Ricardo, which means that we can only report RQ subscriptions: engineering and technology in the on a small fraction of the work carried out by the www.ricardo.com/rq transportation and clean energy company. So we are especially grateful to those Sales enquiries: sectors and related industries. Ricardo customers who have kindly agreed to [email protected] We aim to achieve this by presenting an up-to- co-operate with RQ and allow their programmes Head office: date mix of news, profiles and interviews with top to be highlighted in print: without such help from Ricardo plc, Shoreham-by-Sea Conceived and produced West Sussex BN43 5FG for Ricardo by: business leaders, as well as in-depth features on customers it would not be possible to present such United Kingdom TwoTone Media Ltd programmes – both from within Ricardo and other a fascinating insight into the development of new Tel: +44 (0)1273 455611 Editor: Tony Lewin leading companies. products, technologies and innovations. Contributors: Anthony Smith, Jesse Crosse RQ magazine is printed on paper TwoTone Media Ltd contacts: certified as being in compliance with the environmental and Anthony Smith: [email protected] social standards of the Forest Tony Lewin: [email protected] Stewardship Council ®. Industry News

INDUSTRY NEWS The latest in technology, innovation and sustainability across world industries Focus turns to batteries

Global automakers are moving fast to major battery plant close to its Stuttgart types – including the effects of fast secure battery manufacturing capacity to headquarters; the facility will be carbon charging in 10 minutes. cope with the expected sharp rise in sales neutral and be part of a worldwide network Fisker, which has investment from of electric and hybrid vehicles in the next of nine factories on three continents. Caterpillar, has further postponed the decade. JP Morgan has analysed the launch of its solid-state battery to 2022, The , which aims manufacturing costs of a typical 2018 while Piech’s Mark Zero , to be a world leader in electric vehicles, BEV and calculated that 25 percent is displayed at the , has has teamed up with Swedish start-up accounted for by the battery cells, 15 a new type of battery cell which is claimed Northvolt and the European Investment percent by the electric motor and power to provide 80 percent recharging in under Bank to build a large-scale battery electronics, 10 percent for battery five minutes. plant in northern Sweden, close to the integration, and the remaining 50 percent Arctic Circle. The plant, running on fully for non-powertrain costs. And MIT and Hydrogen steps up renewable electricity, will produce 32 Toyota are using machine learning Hyundai is positioning itself as a global GWh of batteries annually – enough for to predict the lifespan leader in hydrogen fuel cell development around 640,000 EVs – when it reaches full of different and is inviting other automakers to buy its capacity. battery complete hydrogen powertrain, as used VW has also launched its own in-house in the NEXO flagship model. This parallels production of battery cells and is Volkswagen’s offer to share its its MEB promoting the European Battery platform (pictured), and Toyota’s opening Union to take in all aspects of up of its hybrid and fuel-cell patents for the battery value chain. Also broader use. Promoting the hydrogen involved are BMW, Siemens, cause, Hyundai has also launched a joint Scania and ABB. venture to build up a fuelling ecosystem Volvo, for its part, in Europe and is embarking on a pilot has signed battery- project in Korea to supply power to some supply deals with 2200 homes using 1 MW container-sized both CATL of China modules employing NEXO fuel cell stacks. and Korea’s LG Toyota, meanwhile, has developed Chem. It expects the SimpleFuel hydrogen filling station half of all its sales Volkswagen will for use within its Motomachi plant; each to be pure battery- licence out its MEB station uses solar power from the factory electric platform electric vehicles roof to generate enough hydrogen to to help gain scale by 2025. Daimler has economies in power seven or eight forklift trucks for a laid the foundation for a manufacturing whole day.

Citroën reshapes its future To celebrate its centenary this year, Citroën is presenting a concept car that it hopes will serve as a “brand manifesto” for the future and reaffirm the company’s reputation for innovation in the same way as the DS did in 1955. The 19_19 Concept’s suspended capsule fuselage is said to be inspired by aviation, and its interior by the world of furniture design. The fully electric powertrain, with a claimed range of 800 km, is housed in a skateboard-like chassis below, its suspension and components visible from the exterior. Riding on skinny 30-inch wheels and promising minimal noise and vibration, the 19_19 offers a “mental detox” for its occupants. Unlike its DS forebear, however, it is not ready for production. “The 19_19 Concept is our technological and innovative vision of the automotive future,” said Linda Jackson, CEO of Citroën.

4 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Industry News

NEWS IN BRIEF Highlighting the latest thinking in automotive engineering and technology worldwide Premium EV co-operation Jaguar is to join forces with Germany’s BMW to help bring down the costs of electric vehicle hardware. The two organizations will also pool elements of their research Ferrari’s sign of the times and development and purchasing activities. BMW is four times the size of its UK-based competitor. Created to salute the 90th anniversary of performance over battery recharging; the the founding of Scuderia Ferrari, the SF90 battery, of unspecified capacity, gives a London slows down to 15 Stradale marks a paradigm shift in the 25 km zero-emission range as well as an The City of London, the financial district of the British company’s top-end supercar thinking. It electric top speed of 135 km/h. Ferrari capital, is considering imposing a speed limit of 15 mph, or is the first eight-cylinder model to serve says the kerb weight has been kept to just under 25 km/h. Certain streets may be closed to traffic as Ferrari’s flagship, with a plug-in hybrid 1570 kg, despite the extra 270 kg for the in the middle of the day, too. Though car numbers in the drivetrain packing 220 hp of electric hybrid system. City’s narrow streets have halved, average vehicles speeds power and a turbo gasoline engine of 780 Sweden’s Koenigsegg has already sold are below 16 km/h and air quality is poor. hp; it is the first with four-wheel drive, two all 125 planned examples of its new Jesko motors on the front axle giving it torque supercar. The reworked V8 engine gives Toyota enters space race vectoring capability; and its eight-speed 1280 hp on gasoline or 1600 on E85 fuel, JAXA, Japan’s space agency, is teaming up with Toyota to DCT transmission has no reverse gear: and its innovative transmission has nine explore designs for a moon rover. The pressurized vehicle that function is exclusively electric. ratios and no fewer than seven clutches, will be powered by fuel cells and expects to be able to cover Four powertrain modes include eDrive enabling it to make skip-shifts as well as 10,000 km on its store of hydrogen. and ‘qualify’, which prioritises absolute normal sequential changes. EV margins to match standard cars’ by 2025, says Volvo Vienna fires up combustion prospects Volvo, which is spending $1 bn a year to bring five EVs Against a generally accepted background of climate neutrality by 2050, this to market, is confident of the business case for for year’s Vienna Motor Symposium nevertheless delivered encouraging messages electrification. Speaking to Automotive News Europe, CEO for the future of the combustion engine. Market leader Volkswagen’s eighth- Håkan Samuelsson said he expected profit margins on EVs generation Golf, due this summer, will major on 48-volt mild hybrid electrification would equal to those on hybrid models by 2025. By then, half of gasoline engines, providing a fuel saving of 0.4 l/100 km, and sister brand of Volvo’s sales will be pure electric. Audi presented a new 3.0 litre V6 diesel with a 48-volt electric to complement its turbocharger. And Hyundai announced a new 2.2 litre four- Degradable bioplastic cylinder diesel using 2200-bar injectors and both high- and low-pressure EGR. Researchers at Lithuania’s Kaunas University have Due next year, the engine will meet Euro 6d norms. developed a biodegradable bioplastic which will compost completely within two years. The transparent cellulose material is derived from timber and is initially designed to Audi’s city concept replace the non-degradable foils used on food packaging. Amazon and VW in cloud venture Audi chose April’s Shanghai auto show main habitat. Among the design’s other Volkswagen and Amazon are to launch the Volkswagen to present the third of its so-called novelties, which could be a sign of Industrial Cloud as a key step in moving to industry 4.0 use-case electric concept vehicles, things to come in future vehicles, are processes. The cloud will house data from all the machines, appropriately enough aimed at mobility retracting controls, 3D monitors, VR plants, systems and facilities across the VW Group, and in within the restricted confines of goggles for all occupants, magnetic cup the longer term, members of the organization’s supply chain a congested megacity. The AI:ME, and plate holders for onboard dining, a will be brought in too. standing for Audi Intelligent, me, is a concert hall quality audio system with 4.3 metre compact city car capable external noise cancelling, and even an 500-bar GDI cuts particulate emissions of Level 4 autonomy, with a flexible onboard garden stocked with plants to Presenting its new 500-bar gasoline direct injection system interior configuration based around help improve internal air quality. at the Vienna Motor Symposium in May, supplier Delphi two armchair-like seats in the front claimed the higher pressures would reduce raw PM and a curving bench for several more emissions by 50 percent compared with today’s passengers in the rear. The 125 kW state-of-the-art 350-bar systems. The system will motor drives the rear wheels appear in production models from 2022. and the 65 kWh battery is claimed to offer ‘long periods of operation’ in the 20-70 km/h traffic that is expected to be the AI:ME’s

RQ • Q2• 2019 5 Industry News

Heavy vehicles go green

Truck and construction industry trade fairs this spring have ramps on the lower deck. With a 348 kWh battery it can run for brought a spate of announcements relating to zero- and low- 300 km and has a claimed recharge time of 72 minutes. emission machinery, ranging from power modules to complete At the opposite end of the scale is Ford’s new line-up of excavators and from 70-passenger buses to compact eight- electrified light commercials. The ubiquitous Transit will be seater people carriers. available from 2021 as a full electric or plug-in series hybrid, Volvo CE, which began showing battery-powered machine with a three-cylinder gasoline engine as a range extender to concepts some years ago, has expanded its zero-emission range top up the 13.6 kWh battery. Drive is exclusively via the e-motor with a compact wheel loader (pictured) and a -excavator. to the front wheels. The same powertrain is available in the Each can run for eight hours on a full charge and dedicated Tourneo Custom people carrier, and Ford has for some while been e-motors for drivetrain and hydraulic pump functions improve building a version of the German StreetScooter electric light van efficiency. Significantly, Volvo CE says it will discontinue diesel (developed by RWTH Aachen for Deutsche Post DHL) aimed engine development for this type of machine. at the last-mile delivery sector. John Deere, a major player in the off-highway sector, is Battery power is launching a range of electric drives for off-highway applications, reaching off-highway including e-motor and electric pump drives. The units are equipment such as scalable up to 200 kW. AxleTech has presented its AFE series Volvo’s wheel loaders and excavators, but electric axle and Deutz has countered with a range of modular buses still lead products which allow operators to specify the combination of the electrification diesel, gas, hydrogen or electrification that is best for their movement requirements. Deutz is collaborating with Japanese manufacturer Kobelco on a mini-excavator concept using these technologies. Allison now has a range of electric propulsion hardware for commercial vehicles and is collaborating with leading bus maker on low-floor applications. Still in the bus sector, Hyundai has shown an all-electric double- decker seating 70, including two wheelchair positions and

Renewables slow down Investment in new renewable energy overall global energy demand was met by new between 2017 and 2018. generation has fallen for the second year fossil fuel investment, with gas extraction Analysis of the renewable capacity added

in a row, despite record levels of CO2 in the spending up by 3.7 percent and coal mining in 2018 shows a quickening trend towards atmosphere and shareholder pressure on fossil by 2.6 percent. The figures, published by the solar photovoltaic generation. Of the 177 GW fuel companies to disclose their plans to meet International Energy Agency, also show that installed during the year, 55 percent were the goals of the Paris Climate agreement. the burning of coal was responsible for one- solar, 30 percent wind and the remainder in

The bulk of the 2.3 percent increase in third of the increase in global CO2 emissions technologies such as hydropower.

Porsche: its 75 percent Automakers face huge fines cut in emissions since 2014 will not be New European corporate average CO2 emissions rules coming into enough to help parent force in 2021 will severely penalize automakers whose ranges emit company Volkswagen more than their allocated targets. avoid hefty fines The target across the whole industry is 95 g/km but each producer has an individual figure that takes into account the weight

of its models. For every gramme of CO2 above the new target, the automaker pays a fine of €95, multiplied by the number of cars sold that year. During the phase-in period, manufacturers will be able to discount the most pollutive 5 percent of their sales. Even so, multi- billion euro fines are in prospect for some groups. CEOs face the dilemma of whether to drop high-emitting models,

pay the fines, or invest in new technology to curb CO2 output. Another tactic is to team up with a producer with a low emissions profile – as Fiat has done with Tesla.

6 RQ • Q2 • 2019 VIEWPOINT Compostable bioplastics can cut pollution and benefit the economy Jamie Pitcairn– technical director, Ricardo Energy & Environment

There can be no doubt that society packaging market. There is a demonstrable worldwide is beginning to wake up to the need for this material to substitute for challenge of managing plastic waste. petroleum-based plastics, especially Plastics have revolutionised the modern for applications in which food waste world, bringing lower-cost products and might otherwise be trapped and hence enabling foodstuffs to be packaged in a contaminate the residual plastics recycling Networking for safety manner that maintains freshness, thus stream. Compostable packaging would Vehicles that warn each other of hazards on the road have long reducing waste in both the supply chain actually help capture the food waste been a subject for discussion among safety experts. Now a new and in the consumer’s home. attached to packaging – think about the European research project is going a step further and testing But as David Attenborough has shown film covering ready meals – which would out Car-to-X communication, where vehicles are networked to the world’s TV viewers, waste plastic ordinarily contaminate conventional with the road infrastructure and navigation services. packaging is finding its way into every plastic packaging and end up in landfill, Daimler, BMW, Volvo and Ford, along with navigation providers part of every ocean. And as if to validate causing further emissions of greenhouse TomTom and HERE, will develop communication protocols that this view in perhaps the most extreme gases through methane production. In allow warning messages to reach large numbers of users in real of possible locations, a plastic bag was our analysis, we demonstrate the positive time. The technology will build on existing systems such as the even reportedly found by Victor Vescovo Europe-wide eCall and other systems which trigger alerts when during his record-breaking 10,900 Compostable hazard warning lights are activated. Other hazards such as metre submarine dive to the bottom of mobile road works or icy roads could be broadcast, too. the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, the packaging would Mercedes-Benz cars, as well as Volvos in Sweden and deepest point in the world, in April this year. Norway, already share information of this type, but a major task While the negative effects of such actually help capture for the project will be to navigate Europe’s complex rules on data plastic pollution are bad enough, it also food waste which protection and individual anonymity. represents a significant economic waste. According to the Ellen MacArthur would otherwise Foundation, most plastic packaging is used only once as a single-use item, contaminate plastic Industry faces net-zero future and 95 percent of the value of this and divert it to landfill material is lost to the economy annually, Leaders of Europe’s largest industry groups have been representing a staggering US$ 80-120 economic impact that a transition to vying with one another to endorse the 2015 Paris Climate billion globally. compostable bioplastics for food packaging Agreement and offer promises of a sustainable future and In response to the environmental could deliver for the UK market. By 2025 the a route towards net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. harm caused by plastic pollution, the UK net annual benefit to the UK bioeconomy The Volkswagen Group, promoting its multi-billion euro government is taking a fundamental look of a transition to compostable plastic electrification offensive, has even gone to the length of at its regulations and policies relating packaging would be in excess of £267 announcing its last combustion engine programme, set to plastic packaging. In addition, the million through biopolymer material for 2026, and undertaking to make its entire production UK Plastics Pact – a cross-industry sales alone. Additionally, there would be network carbon neutral by 2050. collaboration across the entire packaging wider economic benefits to be realised Leading supplier Bosch has decided to go one better, supply chain – includes the targets that through cost reductions in the collection aiming for climate neutrality across its 400-plus locations 100 percent of packaging should be and processing of hard-to-recycle worldwide as early as 2020. This will make it the first large recyclable, compostable or reusable, and plastics that have been substituted with automotive business to achieve this goal. that no more than 30 percent should go bioplastics, particularly those that are Daimler’s Ambition2039 will see the Mercedes-Benz to waste by 2025. heavily contaminated with food waste or new car fleet become completely carbon neutral over the This is a perspective and an comprised of multi-layer plastics. next 20 years, representing three model generations. initiative that I and my team at Ricardo Such a transition would, of course, Its European production will hit neutrality as soon as wholeheartedly agree with. Compostable require investment in infrastructure, a 2022, and new CEO Ola Kallenius will link management bio-based plastics offer potential new value chain of crop residue-derived remuneration to the company’s emissions performance. for a more sustainable alternative to polymers, and the crucial public education Most of the major players are already exerting pressure petroleum-based counterparts which needed to drive the behavioural change that on their suppliers to cut or eliminate GHG emissions, are more persistent in the environment will facilitate appropriate segregation and and help may be at hand from a Swedish project, Hybrit, – particularly for applications such as effective collection of compostable wastes which has developed a CO2-free value chain for steel food packaging. In our recently published and other recyclates. As our report shows, production. Even cement and concrete, long seen as the report Plastics in the Bioeconomy, however, there are significant sustainability most intractable heavy emitters of GHGs, could take which we produced on behalf of the and economic benefits to be had, as well

steps towards CO2 reductions, according to a group of Biomass Biorefinery Network, we have as a reduction in the tonnage of persistent researchers at Swiss universities. found that there is the potential for a plastic wastes reaching the world’s natural tenfold increase in the UK compostable environment and oceans.

RQ • Q2 • 2019 7

To download a copy of the report, ‘Plastics in the Bioeconomy,’ visit: https:// ee.ricardo.com/news/our-new-report- highlights-potential-tenfold-increase- for-uk-compostable-plastic-packaging- market-by-2025 Interview

INTERVIEW Designs on an electric future Freshly listed on the London Stock Exchange, Aston Martin is branching out from its globally celebrated front-engined GT portfolio and adding top-flight mid-engined hypercars as well as SUVs and its all-electric super-luxury Lagonda brand. Tony Lewin asks chief creative officerMarek Reichman how the transformation will unfold

You are in charge of three brands – Aston Martin’s familiar poor aerodynamics, and its visual offering is so different. The GT models, its new mid-engined supercar range, and Lagonda Valkyrie is all about efficiencies, too, so we transfer the learning as the all-electric nameplate. Which is the most exciting to you from one product into our others. The core of Aston Martin is at as a designer? a brilliant inflection point: the next generation of our traditional They all feel very different, particularly because of the direction of GT cars will change. It’s a brilliant point to be a designer: we’re Lagonda. This gives you more of a global relevance as a designer, seeing electrification, the move to zero emissions, more and and this year, for example, in Shanghai we showed AM-RB 003, more cities talking about no-go zones, and all the talk about some of our core cars – DBS Superleggera and Vantage – and the autonomy, geofencing, connectivity, cyber – they all bring a Lagonda All-Terrain Concept. We also launched Rapide E there. different offering and therefore a different visual language. Of course, there was excitement around AM-RB 003, but the Because if I’m offering Level 5 autonomy, why do I need a focus was Rapide E and Lagonda because of the electrification in windscreen? Glass is heavy. And why do I need headlamps? China. Which is the most exciting? As a designer, I’d have to say After all, there’s talk of dark factories where robots work without Lagonda: it’s the biggest change the industry will see. lights because they would waste electricity.

An exciting task, or an exciting product? How does this challenge the design process? If I look at the rear mid-engined cars, it’s exciting because As a designer, this is the best place to be – and the image of they are the ultimate in performance and Valkyrie provides the a cello and a robot illustrates it. This is the world as I see it: DNA and the link [to everything else]. I can’t think of two more the cello we can’t lose because it symbolises emotion and will disconnected yet connected products than Valkyrie and the continue to create emotion; but the robot is an inevitability. [The Lagonda All-Terrain Concept. Yet if I think of what they both challenge] is finding how to continue the emotion when we have need, it is efficiency: in a battery vehicle the enemy is mass and an autonomous world.

How are electrification and composite structures The portfolio changing your designs? Nobody has yet taken full advantage of the benefits of Aston Martin electrification from a packaging perspective, but we will [soon] Vantage Potent V8-engined two-seater sportscar see products that do it. It’s absolutely brilliant because the DB11 V8 powered GT weight and the power can sit at almost the wheel-centre height: DBS Superleggera V12 Super-GT all your batteries and motors can sit at or below this height, Rapide S and E Four-door coupé, now also with electric power which means you have a very low centre of gravity, which is good DBX Elegant SUV, launches late 2019 for the dynamics of the vehicle. It also means that you have a Vanquish Mid-engined Ferrari rival, due 2022 skateboard [chassis] that you can apply a language on top of: AM-RB 003 Mid-engined, more extreme, due 2021 it kind of goes back to earlier times when you had an individual Valkyrie Road-legal V12 racer with Red Bull F1 DNA chassis and people put the body on top. The advantage is Lagonda that you can offer unique forms that still meet that golden All-Terrain Concept First über-luxury electric SUV, due early 2020s proportion but which have a different bias. You are giving the Vision Concept Introduced new Lagonda design language, consumer something that is very different inside, and carbon launch plans unknown allows you more freedom in the form factor – and exposing it [as structure] as we do on the Valkyrie.

8 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Interview

When the [production] Lagonda appears, will it be a Some of your new sports cars make use of flexible body shock? Can it have different proportions thanks to the surfaces to improve aerodynamics. Do you see their use skateboard chassis? spreading into larger-volume vehicles? Yes, almost anything is possible. Obviously you still have to Yes, we are using them on our special models. The great benefit meet the on-road standards such as crash and side-pole of specials is that they are relatively short timeframe cars - [impact]. I believe some of those standards may change as their development cycle is on average a year faster than our we get closer to autonomy: cars won’t crash, they won’t hit core products. The lower production volumes mean that we pedestrians, which means we can save weight and be more can introduce new technologies that will then filter down to the efficient. Yes, we will see some very radical things happen core [models]. For us the core is circa 6500 cars, so it’s still not because of the Lagonda brand. a mass market product – but it is a way to develop new ideas and test the supply chain. So yes, we will see that idea spreading Are luxury customers open to such radical change? downwards. Some are, some aren’t. What we have said is that Lagonda is not pitched at the traditional luxury customer: Will you need to distinguish electric vehicles visually? there are only two brands in that space at the moment - The shapes will speak for themselves. There are some unique and Rolls-Royce. Those are traditional customers, features: if we look at grilles, those on Lagondas are not so and I can’t imagine a Silicon Valley entrepreneur or a Shanghai traditional. With the GT cars and the DBX [upcoming SUV] the tech entrepreneur driving round in a [Rolls-Royce] Phantom. grilles come from the tradition of the grille being the radiator But I can see them in a Lagonda. It’s a different luxury for cooling, and thus the face of the car; the mid-engined cars customer. But what always happens is that you eventually flip are different as they don’t have radiators there. The whole the traditional luxury customer so that becomes the norm in point of Lagonda is not to have a traditional grille – it’s to luxury. We’re in a strong position because our two design around the attributes needed, the fact that you want competitors are not going to get to an electric platform in the something that’s efficient through the air, that doesn’t disturb timeframe that we can. the air, and you need a low centre of gravity, a low CdA so it’s

“It’s a brilliant point to be a designer: we’re seeing Diversification: Aston electrification, the move to zero emissions, more and Martin’s display at the 2019 Geneva more cities talking about no-go zones, and all the talk motor show presented about autonomy, geofencing, connectivity, cyber – four all-new models and they all bring a different offering and therefore a different visual language”

RQ • Q2 • 2019 9 Interview

Aston Martin DBX, shown here in camouflage wrap, brings the company into the booming SUV segment. It will be fully revealed at the end of this year

slippery and has good battery life. If you think of downhill speed How will interiors change? Does autonomy give skiers and even cyclists, with their aero suits and blended-in you more freedom? helmets, they wouldn’t look right without them. Electrification Yes, it does. There will be more flexibility. The tradition is always needs to have that element of efficiency showing through its the tradition, and when it comes to Aston Martin, for as long as [design] language. it possibly can be, it will be all about your driving position, the A-pillar, the view out, the steering wheel and what you see. But with Are you where you want to be in terms of Lagonda it will be less so, and in the concepts we’ve shown, when electric technology? they are in autonomous mode the seats swivel and the steering Yes, we are. We understand our IP and what we would need to wheel disappears. I think we’ll see more and more of that, and one do in house and what we need to buy in as a technology. It’s the of the other advances we’ll see more of in interiors is in the 3D same as with engines now: we have our own V12, we buy in a manufacturing of parts. No longer are you making a substrate and V8 from Daimler, and we will have our own V6. Because of our trimming it or moulding or machining something, you’re actually size it’s a question of what becomes [our] IP and what we can printing the part. It’s starting on small volumes, but it will grow. just buy in. We are never going to make our own [battery] cells, but we may pack them ourselves because that could be part of What is the minimum acceptable range for an electric the structure. Rapide E accelerates the curve, but we haven’t like the Lagonda? selected cell supplier or the battery supplier yet. The great There are two elements here: what research with consumers thing is that we’re independent: we have access to Daimler’s says they think is a reasonable range, and our own findings. technology but we’re not obliged to use it. I think for Lagonda we’ve got to be talking circa 400 miles range, to allow the owner to drive from London to Edinburgh for In the face of increasing automation and autonomy, how can instance. And in that luxury space we know that the average you preserve the thrill of driving? journey is 15 miles (25 km) per day. Sometimes there is a spike, The hardcore car is the one where you receive feedback, the one perhaps as they travel from one estate to another, but we know which you drive, you feel the road; this might be the Vantage, the average is less than 20 miles a day. So we will provide two and it might be the Vanquish Vision Concept in the future. You’re battery solutions for exactly that. in control of everything, but legislation in the future might determine that you have to have certain things – in hardcore Marek Reichman, Aston Martin Lagonda vice president cars you have to be able to turn that off. Now GTs might show and chief creative officer Born in 1966, Reichman graduated in industrial design and began more of a crossover with that true feeling, but remaining his design career with Rover in 1991, moving to BMW Designworks sporting. With GTs you may not want that interaction all the in California in 1995, where he worked on the third-generation time; you may want to relax, or say ‘hey, drive me’ part of the Range Rover and Rolls-Royce Phantom. Following a spell with Ford’s time. Über-luxury becomes Lagonda, and Lagonda is always Lincoln and Mercury brands he joined Aston Martin in 2005, shaping saying ‘drive me’. It is more about the inside, and the feeling a new identity for the sports cars, establishing a style for Lagonda and developing a new range of mid-engined supercars as well as of being driven in your capsule – that’s how we spread the DBX, Aston Martin’s first SUV. difference between our brands.

Aston Martin Lagonda Aston Martin Lagonda is the world’s only independent luxury car group and it floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 2018. Aston Martin’s powerful sports cars are best known as James Bond’s preferred transport, and the company has built a second factory in Wales to expand into SUVs (the DBX) and to revive Lagonda as the world’s first all-electric luxury marque. In 2018 the group sold some 6500 vehicles, 26 percent up on the prior year.

10 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Decarbonizing rail Photo courtesy of Network Rail of Network courtesy Photo

On track for carbon-free rail traction

With the world now focused on the need to reduce carbon emissions and improve sustainability, railways around the globe are busy devising smarter approaches to electrification.Anthony Smith explains how these new developments can also tackle the parallel issues of air quality and noise

Rail electrification has long been seen as a approximately half the prevailing level at the 50 years: the length of track completed means of improving the energy efficiency start of the decade. In fact, the first week per year has varied from zero to in excess of passenger train propulsion in relation of May 2019 saw the country reach the of 800 single-track kilometres (stk). This to the alternative of diesel traction; more milestone of its first week without compares with an almost constant 200 recently, it has come into favour as a means coal-generated electricity since the 1880s. stk per year in Germany over a similar of removing air pollution at point of use. But while electrification may have period. This unpredictability is widely These benefits make it easy to see distinct benefits once in place, it is thought to have exacerbated the situation, why this form of traction is favoured: on a far from a low-cost option in terms of requiring supply chains to be reconfigured like-for-like basis, electric trains are lighter upfront capital investment. Installation for each major new electrification project. in weight, accelerate more quickly, have and commissioning costs vary widely This combination of factors results in a lower maintenance costs and consume depending on many factors, not least the current UK cost of approximately £2.5 less energy than diesels. need to accommodate overhead catenary million per single track kilometre for Moreover, electric traction also benefits systems into legacy infrastructure electrification as opposed to around £1 from the ongoing efforts to decarbonize such as overbridges and tunnels. Where million per stk for other major grid power generation. In the UK, for height is restricted, the additional cost of European networks. example, this improvement has been lowering the track bed and its foundations The solar roof of London’s refurbished significant. Coal-based power generation, to accommodate the increased headroom Pragmatic and smarter Blackfriars Station once the predominant source of energy requirement – or rebuilding those electrification (above). Renewable for the power grid, has been dramatically structures completely – can be significant Yet while significant efforts are being energy can provide scaled back in favour of renewables such and may also incur financial penalties for made to reduce installation costs, it a valuable means of as wind energy and solar. As a result, by line closures during reconstruction. is almost inevitable that most mixed augmenting power supplies in areas 2018 the average carbon intensity of In the UK there has also been something networks of urban, intercity and rural where the grid is the electricity supply in mainland Great of a feast or famine approach to routes will include regions for which restricted (see p14) Britain had fallen to just 270 g/kWh CO2e - electrification strategy over the past the case for conventional overhead

RQ • Q2 • 2019 11 Decarbonizing rail

electrification cannot be made. New electrification – single track kilometres In these circumstances, argues Jon Brown, UK business development 800 manager for Ricardo Rail, a smarter and UK Germany more pragmatic approach is required: 600 “A key challenge for the rail industry internationally is to look at how we can accommodate gaps in electrification 400 while still maximizing the proportion of electric traction. This might be anything 200 from short section-gaps in overhead line through bridges or tunnels to avoid the 0 costs of reconstruction, to longer sections 1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 that remain non-electrified.” The rationale for allowing such longer gaps in electrification can be varied. “There is a strong regional imperative “The region is unusual in that its rail As examples, it might be for aesthetic to reduce emissions, with the provinces lines are part of only 5 percent of the considerations around installing a having taken the political decision to aim Dutch network that remains unelectrified,” catenary system for a light rail or tram for zero emissions public transport – both continues Wolf, “but we had previously system in a historic city centre, or it could in terms of point of use and generation of conducted a study that demonstrated be the lack of commercial justification for the energy used – by 2025. This is quite that full conventional electrification of the the investment required for a rural route an ambitious target that cuts across both lines in this region was not cost-effective with lower traffic volumes and buses and trains,” he says. due to the comparatively light load factors load factors. “Either way,” continues Brown, “the key enabling technologies for maintaining zero emissions at point of use are those of on-board energy storage and range Route diagrams for extenders: these allow electric trains to Options 1-3 (below operate beyond the reach of catenaries.” table) showing in red the extent of line beyond the reach of Developing zero emissions battery operation. rail in the Netherlands Option 3, comprising a The Ricardo Rail team based in Utrecht was total partial catenary asked to investigate exactly this approach length of 10.5 km or 4 to electrification of the Dutch rail network percent of the seven by the northern Netherlands provinces of routes served, enables full battery train Fryslân and Groningen, explains Ricardo operation sustainability consultant, Martijn Wolf.

Predicted depth of discharge of on-board batteries based on three recharging scenarios Option 1 – station- Option 2 – additional Option 3 – additional based recharging only 4 km partial catenary 4 + 6.5 km partial catenaries Routes modelled [kWh] [%] [kWh] [%] [kWh] [%] Leeuwarden – Harlingen Haven 296 30 180 57 180 57 Leeuwarden – Stavoren 115 73 115 73 115 73 Leeuwarden – Sneek 329 22 252 40 252 40 Leeuwarden – Winschoten -38 109 157 63 157 63 Leeuwarden – Groningen Europapark -623 248 95 77 116 72 Delfzijl – Veendam -858 304 166 60 166 60 Eemshaven – Leer -145 135 87 79 87 79 Leeuwarden – Groningen Europapark (Sneltrein) -3556 947 -722 272 129 69

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

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Decarbonizing rail

“A key challenge for the rail industry internationally is to look at how we can accommodate and train frequencies. From the outset of gaps in electrification while still maximizing the this study, therefore, we needed to explore proportion of electric traction” alternative approaches.” The study, which was carried out Jon Brown, Ricardo Rail UK business in collaboration with infrastructure consultancy Arcadis, focused in particular development manager on evaluating different options for range-extender solutions based on hydrogen fuel cells used in the form The simulation of daily train usage board batteries would be fully depleted on On the south of of a hybrid propulsion system, or for was based on a standard reference all but three of the seven routes modelled, England 750V DC partial catenaries in combination with train representing a Stadler GTW 2/6 so some level of additional power supply network, Ricardo is exploring the use of higher capacity on-board battery energy articulated rail car, typical of the worst for recharging would be required.” its IGNITE software storage. With recent improvements and case (in terms of its likely energy storage to investigate power- the reduced cost of battery systems, the requirement) of rolling stock used on the Addition of partial catenary restricted pinch latter was clearly identified as the more lines in the region. In order to test the In a second scenario, the same seven points and make attractive solution. feasibility of running battery trains using routes were assessed with the inclusion of more effective use of regenerative braking Initially, a proposal was considered only station-based opportunity charging, a 4 km length of overhead electrification to use charging points at station stops, the team calculated the required battery – representing approximately 1.5 in a similar manner to some battery- capacity per route to run the specified percent of the non-electrified network operated bus networks. However, as timetable, including an allowance for the covered by the seven routes. Current Wolf recalls, there were challenges in weight of the installed pack. This required would be collected via a pantograph this approach: “A train has a much higher fitment of a 535 kWh pack, based on the sized to accommodate the requirements charging requirement than that of a specified end of life capacity of 420 kWh. of 4C battery recharging in addition to bus, due to its size and weight. Using the Charging was assumed to be carried out immediate traction power needs of the type of discrete charging points that are at a maximum rate of 4C, meaning that vehicle. The results of this intermediate available for commercial buses would have a full recharge cycle could be carried scenario indicated that the use of the been impractical due to the positioning out in a minimum of 15 minutes. To battery-equipped train would be sufficient of stations and the length of time that accommodate this high charging rate the for all the timetable requirements with the would be required for recharging. Instead, team viewed LTO (lithium titanate) as the exception of an express service between we looked into the options for partial most effective cell chemistry, a type that Groningen and Leeuwarden. electrification.” the rail industry in general seems to be In a further optimized scenario, the converging upon. Despite their high cost in length of partial catenary was extended Station-based comparison with other cells, LTO batteries by a further 6.5 km – representing a total ‘opportunity’ charging provide high C rate charging capacity, high of 10.5 km or approximately 4 percent The team modelled a range of scenarios power transfer and very long cycle lives of the network covered by the seven combining station-based recharging which, coupled with exceptional safety routes. “This final scenario demonstrated with partial electrification. In the partial characteristics, provides an attractive sufficient capacity to operate the entire electrification zones, trains use the business case for rail. timetable,” concludes Wolf. “Moreover, overhead line for both their immediate “The initial scenario we assessed through the inclusion of this additional tractive power needs as well as for battery revolved around solely station-based length of overhead line, the simulation recharging. This is augmented in the non- recharging without any electrification showed that two station-based electrified sections with station-based beyond the existing network,” explains recharging facilities could be deleted, recharging points similar to those used for Wolf. “However, the analysis of this mode thus mitigating part of the infrastructure battery bus networks. of operation showed that the trains’ on- investment required.”

RQ • Q2 • 2019 13 Decarbonizing rail Photo courtesy of Network Rail of Network courtesy Photo

Station air quality In addition to the assessment of local scheduling to gain more effective electrification costs down. can be problematic zero-emissions solutions based on partial use of the available capacity, we are Elsewhere, Ricardo is also collaborating where topology is catenary and station-based opportunity exploring the modelling of power flows on a research project to incorporate challenging, such as Birmingham’s charging, the Ricardo-Arcadis team at such pinch points.” he continues. “To local solar PV generation capacity into New Street (above), also assessed options for hydrogen fuel do this we’re using the Ricardo IGNITE the electrical distribution system of the where the platforms cell propulsion using a battery-hybrid software – a physics-based package DC third-rail network south of London. In are situated beneath powertrain solution. Armed with the developed for complete system modelling this case the objective is both to provide a major shopping information generated from the study, the and simulation of complex systems a source of geographically distributed centre and are used by many diesel-operated provinces of Fryslân and Groningen and the that has been successfully used in demand to match local solar farms, while cross-country regional rail operator Arriva can now make both automotive and water industry also enabling the railway’s own distribution services an informed choice about the possible roll- applications. This may well provide network to act as a shadow grid where out of a battery-powered fleet, with greater opportunities to alleviate some of the connectivity to the main distribution grid insight into the costs and the modifications challenges presented by power-restricted is difficult. required to trains and infrastructure. pinch points, while also making more effective use of regenerative braking on Air quality – the big Optimizing the power supply this type of DC network.” unspoken issue High-voltage overhead AC electrification Given the patchwork nature of electrification systems such as the 25 kV standard used Incorporating in the UK, a significant and increasing cause in Great Britain have a high transmission renewable energy for concern is the exposure of passengers efficiency. The use of regenerative Elsewhere on the UK rail network, and staff at major stations and railway braking processes can therefore be highly Ricardo is assisting in the Green Valley depots to pollution such as diesel exhausts effective within these systems as a vehicle Lines project to incorporate community and other particulate emissions in the returning energy back into the overhead renewable energy schemes into the working environment. line as it brakes can be geographically proposed smart electrification of the In 2012 the World Health Organization’s remote from another vehicle drawing commuter lines running to and from International Agency for Research on power for traction. the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Aside from its Cancer (IARC) re-classified diesel exhaust However, this is not the case for the benefits in reducing the carbon intensity emissions and related ambient air 750 V DC third-rail electrified routes of of rail traction, this approach can be pollution as carcinogenic and associated London and the South of England, as John particularly attractive in areas where with increased mortality from lung cancer. Brown explains: “The voltage fall-off on the power grid is restricted and would Employers are responsible for managing DC systems restricts the usefulness of otherwise require significant upgrades to the risk from exposure to this and other regenerative braking where energy is fed supply such electrification schemes. hazardous substances: this applies to back into the track. Typically, such energy Working with infrastructure owner both workers and others who might be that is regenerated in braking will have Network Rail and the Energy Saving Trust, affected; in the case of railway stations, a useful range of around 1.5 km on this the Ricardo team is identifying potential this means the travelling public. So, station type of third-rail system; beyond this, sites to install community-owned solar, and train operators who have employees DC voltage drop means that it is merely wind or hydroelectric generators next to working on site have a legal duty, so far as dissipated and lost.” railway lines in the region. These sites would is reasonably practicable, to manage the Even more crucially for operational directly supply the new overhead lines risks to the health of their employees and efficiency, many traffic pinch points with low-cost, low-carbon electricity, at passengers resulting from exposure to on the third-rail network are restricted the same time providing financial benefits hazardous substances as specified by the by electrical capacity rather than by to local communities who would own the regulations for the Control of Substances signalling. This is particularly the case at generators. The study is also scoping Hazardous to Health. busy stations or complex junctions where technical solutions for directly connecting “It might be concluded that the worst multiple trains might be accelerating renewables to overhead electrified lines incidences of station air quality would be simultaneously. “To address this issue and analysing how best to integrate new found in major termini served by diesel and see how we can perhaps co-ordinate energy storage technologies to help keep fleets,” explains Brown, “but station

14 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Decarbonizing rail Photo courtesy of Network Rail of Network courtesy Photo topology can have a very significant impact too.” “The UK has many diesel vehicles on its network. He cites the case of Birmingham’s New Street Station, which, despite having This is an opportunity to show they still have a viable overhead electrification as part of the West Coast Main Line network, is also long-term future as hybrids, offering reduced NOx, served by numerous cross-country and carbon and noise emissions as well as providing the local services which cover non-electrified lines for at least part of their routes and potential for lower operating costs” are hence operated using diesel-powered rolling stock. “Many of these services Olivier André, Ricardo Rail UK MD of consulting will change direction at New Street and remain at the platform for an extended HybridFLEX project with UK-based is also overseeing integration of all the period,” he explains. “To compound the rolling stock owner Porterbrook to mechanical, electrical and critical control situation, the station itself is approached provide engineering support with the systems, committing teams from its Rail through a cutting and has a major retail integration of an MTU hybrid powerpack and Automotive divisions to support all development above; as such, it is in effect into a converted Turbostar diesel multiple the engineering tasks; the teams will also a large underground station.” unit train. This is a first in the UK rail cover the relevant safety, certification and Ricardo’s rail and air quality teams are industry. The HybridFLEX concept aims approvals activities to ensure the safe and researching the issue of such pollution to eliminate diesel operation in built-up successful operation of the train during hotspots, and are examining potential areas where there is no electrification public trials. abatement options for the immediate, of the rail network, through the use of “The UK has many diesel vehicles on medium and longer term. And examination battery operation during the last mile of its network,” explains Olivier André, UK of this issue goes beyond consideration running in the vicinity of urban areas, as MD of consulting, Ricardo Rail. “This is an of diesel emissions. In the Netherlands, well as during station stops. In addition opportunity to show they still have a viable for example, where diesel usage is to reducing diesel emissions in such long-term future as hybrids, offering comparatively low, discussions are urban areas, a further benefit will be to reduced NOx, carbon and noise emissions currently focusing on non-exhaust significantly reduce noise. as well as providing the potential for lower sources of PM2.5 emissions from rail, When diesel power is required for operating costs.” such as those arising from the wheel/ propulsion of the train it will be provided Once the completed trial confirms the rail interface, the action of pantographs by an engine conforming to the latest EU expected performance advantages of the on the overhead contact lines, and from Stage V emissions standards (due to come hybrid system, Porterbrook will work with friction-based brakes. into force in 2021). With the on-board existing and future Turbostar customers batteries capturing the energy usually lost to evaluate conversion of these fleets to Hybridization and last-mile when slowing the train through braking, HybridFLEX, accelerating the move away zero emissions operation coupled with a more efficient engine and from diesel-only trains in advance of the While partial electrification schemes transmission, the overall CO2 emissions will UK Government’s stated 2040 target. coupled with battery-equipped trains as be reduced by as much as 25 percent when modelled by Ricardo in the Netherlands the train enters service in 2020. The initial Innovation focused, may provide a long-term means of trial period should also confirm the higher technology neutral removing diesel exhaust from hotspots performance and capability of the hybrid Decarbonizing the railways is clearly a such as stations and depots, a more systems compared to the standard variant complex challenge for which there are immediate solution is needed in order to of the Turbostar train. multiple potential technological solutions; alleviate the worst cases within a shorter Ricardo’s engineering team is each is appropriate to different passenger time horizon. One innovation being actively performing all the integration engineering network types and locations – from light explored by Ricardo in the UK is that of and safety assessments of the bare rail, trams and tram-train networks the hybridization of the existing diesel- hybrid powerpack provided by MTU for through to high speed intercity trains, and powered fleet. the existing Turbostar train for conversion from the highly electrified lines of Europe Ricardo is working as part of the into the first HybridFLEX vehicle. Ricardo to the patchwork electrification of the UK. Inextricably linked to this challenge is the requirement to provide a safe working environment for staff and passengers, as well as value for money for fare payers and governments and regions investing in new infrastructure. The HybridFLEX As the work of Ricardo in this area concept (left) aims is showing, innovations in simulation to eliminate diesel technologies, power networks, renewable operation in built-up areas where there energy, and air-quality monitoring and is no electrification control can offer significant advantages of the rail network. when considered in parallel with efforts It does this through to decarbonize rail travel. This is only half the use of battery of the rail picture, however, and in a future operation during the last mile of running in feature we will consider the emerging the vicinity of urban opportunities to further reduce the carbon areas, as well as intensity of rail freight operations. during station stops

RQ • Q2 • 2019 15 BMW C400 series

Smart, urban – and every inch a

Building on more than a decade of co-operation with BMW Motorrad, Ricardo BMWMotorcycle has partnered with the premium bikemaker to develop a new generation of mid-sized scooters that distil the qualities of the highly successful C650 range of maxi-scooters into a smaller and more accessible format. Jesse Crosse reports on the creative processes behind the new and innovative C400 series scooters aimed at the expanding urban and touring markets

BMW’s C650 range of luxury maxi- not only achieve a competitive price point motorcycles to be launched in 2009. scooters, co-developed with Ricardo in this tightly fought market segment, The programme drew on Ricardo’s Motorcycle, has been a major critical but also gain best-in-class status for extensive resources in Shoreham and and commercial success, prompting an refinement, performance, handling and Leamington Spa in the UK, Prague in the initiative to extend the premium concept premium design values. For Ricardo, it Czech Republic and Schwäbisch Gmünd into the heart of the sector. was to be the most daunting task yet in a in Germany, making for a truly However, the global market for smaller relationship with the German motorcycle multinational project. scooters in the 400 cc category is already manufacturer that has already spanned The result was a resounding success well served by a number of established more than a decade. and since then the relationship has gone manufacturers, and to enter it and from strength to strength. Ricardo’s succeed is a daunting task – even for a Successful partnership engineering of the six-cylinder K1600 company of BMW’s stature and standing. with BMW since 2006 touring bike engine led to this new BMW Yet, with the help of Ricardo, that is Ricardo first began work on BMW earning rave reviews in the motorcycle precisely what BMW Motorrad is aiming to Motorrad products back in 2006 when press. The first luxury maxi-scooters, do with its new C400 scooters. it took on the upgrade programme again developed with substantial Ricardo The challenge, put simply, was to design for the four-cylinder K1200 superbike input, arrived in 2012 and continue to be and manufacture a scooter that could engine to produce a new range of K1300 available as the C650 Sport and C650 GT

16 RQ • Q2 • 2019 BMW C400 series

- and since 2017 there has also been an customer expectations for the BMW cost substantially more than a Japanese electric version, the C Evolution. brand. “This mid-size segment is more naked 650 cc motorcycle.” competitive, with many more people Careful thought went into the Mid-size market: competing in that space,” observes positioning of the two C400 models, adds a logical step Ricardo’s head of motorcycle strategy and Reissing. “Firstly, we wanted an attractive With approximately 30,000 units business development Paul Etheridge. “The sport version that competes with our worldwide annually, the mid-size scooter price point is much more competitive too, competitors’ offerings, and secondly we sector is about two-thirds of the size of so the product has got to be the best in needed a smaller version of our big C650 the maxi-scooter market, explains BMW’s its class and it’s got to be correctly priced. GT tourer, but in this lower displacement project manager Dr Joerg Reissing. “Yet Overall, it’s a lot more challenging to make a category.” over the years it has proved very stable, successful product in this segment.” The concept for the C400 was very similar so it was a logical step to downsize our “BMW’s aim is to expand the offer on to that of the larger scooter. “So, starting maxi scooters, so we can attract new and the market,” adds Ricardo’s Massimo from the same base, we aimed to produce different target groups - there is a healthy Lotti, responsible for the project’s styling a sport version and a GT version,” explains market demand.” team. “The big scooter segment is limited, Lotti. These became the C400 X (sport) Nevertheless, the pressure was on to mainly because of the cost comparison and C400 GT (touring). Yet even though the produce a premium machine that met with 650 cc motorcycles: a big scooter can 400 parallels the thinking of the 650, the

RQ • Q2 • 2019 17 BMW C400 series

Innovative engine mount gives smooth ride, quick handling A scooter differs from a motorcycle in that the engine assembly also doubles as the rear swinging arm and is continually moving when the scooter is being ridden. “This kind of application,” says chief chassis engineer Massimo Lambertini, “is difficult to do well because you have to decouple the vibration coming to the rider and passenger from the engine via the frame. “To do this, the pivot would normally have a rubber-mounted hinge point with two degrees of freedom. The rubber mounting introduces flexibility between the engine and the frame, and this gives riders a feeling that the rear wheel is steering while they are cornering. You get the feeling that the rear of the scooter is not following you,” he explains. Ricardo was able to channel its considerable simulation skills into developing a coupling system that provides a very high pivot point for the engine. “This gave us riding characteristics similar to that of a motorcycle,” continues Lambertini. “There are some rubber elements but compared to all the competitors with the same kind of engine and rear wheel design, this is widely acknowledged as being best-in-class.”

two platforms are completely different and while the GT version has received very some of the styling language from the there is no similarity or carry-over between positive feedback as a ‘tourer scooter’ – BMW GS off-road touring motorcycle. the maxi-scooter and the mid-size one. a very good result. “The GS is not an overt sports bike, it’s a Interestingly, the idea of producing a sport As the brief evolved, the decision was cross-tourer, so we had the opportunity and GT version from a single platform taken to dial back the sporting attributes to provide a similar feeling on a scooter,” originally came from Ricardo at the of the C400 X to retain an urban focus, explains Lotti. “The GT was a different beginning of the maxi-scooter project. creating a scooter with a lighter and proposition. We wanted to create a true GT more agile feel than the grand tourer. focusing on fuel economy, comfort, riding Urban agility and GT The approach is what the designers call position and all the attributes a true GT cruiser off one platform ‘cross-city.’ In that urban segment a true should have.” The challenge, says Massimo Lotti, is to sports scooter makes less sense because One concept introduced on the bigger use scooters based on a single platform it does not need to be uncompromisingly scooter was a Ricardo idea: the patented to compete against the best seller in each sporty, and it must appeal to a city-based Flexcase system, originally launched on of the sports and tourer categories: “We customer. The idea was to make a vehicle the C650. The storage system can drop were up against two different models from that felt light and agile to the touch – one down to allow a full-face helmet to be two of the world’s top manufacturers, that could easily take on the cut and thrust locked away securely while the scooter is Yamaha and Suzuki, and now Honda is in of urban traffic and allow the rider the stationary and in the normal position, and the market too,” he explains. freedom to make rapid progress through can be used for general stowage when the This would be tough enough as it was, the most crowded streets. scooter is being ridden. While the Flexcase but to mount that dual challenge from The feeling of agility riders get from system is not new to the market as a a single platform would be tougher still, the nimble C400 X is engineered into the whole, the BMW machines are the only particularly as the underlying chassis chassis, and the scooter is also 8 kg lighter scooters available with anything like it. and suspension design would have to than its GT sister. “That is mainly due to The main target for the chassis design deliver two distinctly different sets differences in the body parts,” explains was to create an extremely rigid engine of vehicle dynamics. By contrast, the Massimo Lambertini, who was responsible mounting and achieve the highest competitors’ machines were designed for chassis design and development. standards of handling feel. “One of the from scratch to deliver those respective weak points of other scooter designs is attributes. But the outcome, Lotti Design cues from that the engine is completely rubber- recounts with some satisfaction, is that legendary GS mounted, so the engine and rear wheel independent reviews rate the C400 X as On both the C400 X and C400 GT, the unit is not so rigid. This is to avoid noise the best in class in the ‘Sport’ category, BMW styling department team introduced and vibration from being transmitted to the rider and passenger, but it’s not great for rideability,” explains Lambertini. “It was a logical step to downsize our maxi At the front there is a 15-inch wheel to ease the shock of urban potholes, and scooters, so we can attract new and different telescopic forks aim to give the best ride possible. A small subframe, moulded in target groups - there is a healthy market plastic, supports the instrument panel demand” Dr Joerg Reissing, BMW project manager and front lights. The C400s incorporate some carry-over design features from other BMW bikes, such as the handlebar

18 RQ • Q2 • 2019 BMW C400 series

switches, headlights and instrument China specifically for our project,” says “We chose the best position for the cluster, to provide a strong link with the rest Ricardo’s Nikola Fiket, who was in charge shaft to quell vibration and also take of BMW’s two-wheeled family. The design of powertrain design and development. into account the swing arm pivot point goes one step further than competitors The engine incorporates a CVT we wanted. Intake gas flow was also the with the addition of a twin (rather than transmission, with the front pulley subject of considerable simulation work: single) front disc brake set up with four- mounted on the crankshaft. The second as the cylinder lies almost horizontally piston calipers to improve safety and give pulley is connected to the first by a rubber so the air intake has to turn 180 degrees the rider a greater feeling of security. belt and drives a fixed-ratio secondary through the swing arm.” drive with a small centrifugal clutch. And although relatively conventional Engine and “These components account for more in its approach compared to others in transmission design than half the weight of the swing arm,” the market, the detailed design of the A water-cooled, port-injected 350 cc says Fiket. “We also had responsibility for BMW combustion system in terms of single-cylinder four-valve engine with a the airbox and complete air intake, which combustion stability, tumble ratio and single overhead camshaft and roller finger is also assembled through the swing arm. airflow generally is at the cutting edge of followers provides the power. Output is 34 The exhaust system is connected to the what is technically possible. PS at 7500 rev/min and torque is 35 Nm at right-hand side of the swing arm.” 6000 rev/min; both the C400 X and C400 Production: technology GT conform to the latest motorcycle EU4 Balancer shaft: yes or no? transfer to China emissions standards. Some scooter engines have a balancer The chassis and fairings for the familiar C650 Engine design work started in 2013 shaft for smoothness, while some others series are manufactured in Europe, and with some initial information from that do not still score well on vibration were designed in collaboration with Italian BMW, and Ricardo was also involved in and refinement. “The big question was do scooter specialist EXNOVO (now part of initial benchmarking and defining the we need one, and what would be the best Ricardo Motorcycle), while the C650’s engine specification. That involved reviewing position for it?” remembers Fiket. BMW is produced by Taiwanese manufacturer existing products to establish the looked at its two main competitors – one KYMCO. In contrast, for the new C400 the optimum engine capacity, and BMW’s which had the most rapid performance manufacturing is carried out entirely in desire for some similarity with other and wasn’t equipped with a balancer shaft, China, by LONCIN at its plant in Chongqing. Motorrad engines meant the bore size and the other, rated highest for refinement, Quite apart from the design and was initially set at 80 mm. “We hoped which did. The objective was to achieve engineering of the vehicle itself, to use some carry-over parts like the the best of both and become the new the management of this remote valve train components and the piston benchmark for others to follow, so the manufacturing process was a demanding but in the end the parts were all made in decision was taken to include the shaft. task and needed careful handling, as

BMW C 400 X product highlights

Two storage Flexcase for Multifunctional instrument cluster compartments two helmets with 6.5-inch full-colour TFT screen

LED lighting technology as standard Two spring struts at rear with ample spring travel

Telescopic fork at front

Torsionally stiff drivetrain swing arm Rum, iusa ditiaerum quid mo blanis estia culless imolupt ateture rferum quos et quist omniendae. Udissimus Efficiency-optimised enihica ectota veliquas Chassis with rugged single-cylinder engine tubularrat steel ommolorrum frame etur, with CVT gearbox omnit ut fugiatendus. Nam ducium volupta Powerful braking system with ABS as standard

RQ • Q2 • 2019 19 BMW C400 series

“We took much more responsibility for the design

and development as well as helping the new than its 204 kg wet weight. The torque of 35 Nm peaks at 6000 rev/min, but supplier base to deliver components meeting there’s plenty of grunt throughout and the BMW’s stringent quality requirements” Paul compact 400 easily hits the ton with a bit more to give.” Etheridge, Ricardo head of motorcycle strategy The leading website went on to say: “thanks to a ‘vibration-decoupled engine mount’ – rubber bushings damping the BMW’s Dr. Joerg Reissing explains: “One demonstrate them in China. At that point engine vibration – the bike is remarkably of the main challenges was to ensure fast the processes were adjusted to suit the smooth, and there’s very little shake and efficient communications between all Chinese workforce. All testing is carried out through the bars and mirrors. In fact, even the parties involved, including suppliers. in China and the scooters are assembled at higher speeds you could still get a clear Considerable effort went into establishing on two production lines, the first for the view of what’s behind you.” standard processes to ensure excellent powertrain and the second for the entire Mannheimer Morgen was deeply levels of quality.” scooter, which at the end of the process is impressed with the C400’s new navigation The final result, a scooter which would ready to ride away. system, finding that the simple interface be sold in Europe as well across global didn’t distract or mislead the rider, and in markets, had to be 100 percent BMW not Excellent outcome - and a three-hour test ride around Milan was just in quality, but in look and feel too. Overall, the media agree “absolutely perfect.” the engineering team had to work within The end result was exactly as expected: a The competitively priced C400 scooters the technical capabilities of the suppliers, scooter that is well designed, well specified are now on sale, with features such as and one of the issues was the fact that and with great handling. “Our focus was automatic stability control (ASC) and ABS component volumes were being measured on typical BMW styling, market-leading as well as BMW Motorrad Connectivity in the thousands rather than the millions innovations like connectivity with a large which allows the rider to access phone, that many Chinese suppliers are used to. TFT display, and a riding experience that music and navigation via a multi-function “This is a substantial step further than is closer to a motorcycle than a scooter to controller on the handlebars. before,” explains Ricardo’s Paul Etheridge. deliver our brand-core ‘Joy’,” says Reissing. A satisfied Reissing notes that “We took much more responsibility for Like their bigger predecessors, the new “Ricardo made important contributions the design and development as well as BMW scooters have proved as popular with for the success of the project due to helping the new supplier base to deliver the world’s press as BMW hoped. “In town an comprehensive knowledge of complete components meeting BMW’s stringent excellent turning circle allows the C400 X to vehicles, the interactions between quality requirements. This alone represented easily be U-turned in a road and its light feel development and production and quick and an entire area of work, and of course it and narrowness means you can zip through flexible workflows.” went without saying that the manufacture gaps, while the riding position means your All in all, the new C400s are compelling of the final vehicle also had to meet BMW feet are always close to the ground…” said new products of which both BMW and requirements of quality and refinement.” Motor Cycle News. “The C400 X looks and Ricardo are rightly proud, marking another One of the ways this was managed feels a premium scooter…” milestone in what has proven to be a hugely was to perfect the various assembly Visor Down agreed. “The C400 X was a successful relationship between the techniques in Europe, then transfer and delight to ride – it felt agile, and far lighter two companies.

20 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Green fuel for ships

Sailing on

SOLARWith the world waking up to the global climate emergency, major industries are looking towards zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier. Shipping, responsible for between 2 and 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, has been one of the slowest to be regulated and hence, to embrace technical change. Yet according to a new Ricardo report there could be an answer, in the surprising shape of ‘green’ ammonia. Tony Lewin explains

The shipping industry, with its high Organization has agreed to halve the Decarbonized powertrains are at varying investment costs and long replacement sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stages of development in almost every cycles for vessels and their engines, has by 2050. The quantities are significant: if transport sector, with batteries, hydrogen traditionally been a slow mover when it sea transport were a country, it would rank and synthetic fuels all vying for advantage. comes to environmental initiatives. Recently, fifth in the world for GHG emissions, midway But in shipping the route forward is less however, the International Maritime between Japan and Germany. clear: battery power is currently inadequate

RQ • Q2 • 2019 21 Green fuel for ships

Comparison of fuel characteristics hydrogen and oxygen; the hydrogen is then stored ready for the next process, which Liquefied Green Green Marine gas oil Methanol sees it combined with nitrogen harvested natural gas ammonia hydrogen from the air using an air separation unit,

Fossil fuel, Fossil fuel, Zero GHG Zero GHG again a familiar technology. Type Low-carbon high carbon high carbon emitting emitting The electrolyser plants for green ammonia production are made up of Temperature for -34°C (or Ambient -162°C Ambient -253°C multiple modular units that can operate liquid storage pressurised) at low loads and can be stopped or Tank volume for 1,000 started easily, says the report. These 164m3 169m3 299m3 555m3 nautical mile range 73m3 (2.3 x MGO) (2.3 x MGO) (4.1 x MGO) (7.6 x MGO) characteristics give them high operational of Handymax carrier flexibility, which is well suited to renewable

Short and Short and Short and Short and electricity with fluctuating output. Suitable application Short voyages long voyages long voyages long voyages long voyages The Haber-Bosch process for turning the hydrogen and nitrogen into ammonia is also B est performing A cceptable Problematic an established one. The technique involves an exothermic reaction (one that creates Green ammonia for any but the shortest of ferry routes, if it is generated using carbon-free energy, heat) that works best when it continues scores well under and hydrogen has challenges due to and the fuel can be used in existing marine uninterrupted, explains the report, but it is every heading, its only minor drawback being infrastructure issues. The liquefied natural diesel engines with some modifications to possible to design a Haber-Bosch plant with lower energy density gas fuel that has recently become more the powerplant and fuel storage systems. the ability to operate more flexibly and to than other liquid fuels popular is helpful in avoiding the sulfur There is a potential for the same fuel to be reduce the load at times of lower electricity emissions of traditional heavy fuel oils and used later in fuel cell equipped vessels. output from intermittent renewable

does slightly reduce CO2 impact thanks to Ammonia is a known compound in sources. In terms of energy demand its the lower carbon content; however, truly industry. It is widely used in transport as (excluding the desalination plant that climate-neutral synthetic fuels are still too a reductant, stored as AdBlue for use in provides the pure water), the electrolyser expensive for this acutely cost-conscious the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) absorbs some 92 percent of the total, with sector and are not currently available. systems employed to reduce NOx from the Haber-Bosch synthesis accounting for One possibility gaining traction is carbon- diesel exhausts. Despite its corrosiveness, just 6 percent. free ‘green’ ammonia, and its potential is ammonia is in general easier to store Buffer storage tanks for both hydrogen highlighted in a study published by Ricardo than hydrogen and does not require and nitrogen allow the system to absorb Energy & Environment in spring 2019 on cryogenic freezing. surplus electricity supply, as well as behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund, a More compellingly still, if that ammonia enabling the process to continue even when leading international non-profit organization is produced using renewable electricity, renewable generation is low. In fact, says addressing environmental problems. The the whole fuel value chain becomes fully Nick Ash, one of the report’s authors, the report, entitled Sailing on Solar: Could climate neutral. Abundant solar irradiation electricity supply could drop by more than green ammonia decarbonize international in many developing countries in the 92 percent and the Haber-Bosch process shipping? builds a strong case for ammonia equatorial belt and southern hemisphere could continue operation near full load. as a fuel which could not only decarbonize gives them the potential to set up green maritime transport but also help boost ammonia plants as part of extended solar Green ammonia on board ship the economies of developing nations. The farms. These could provide sustained The central advantage of using ammonia connection might appear obscure but, as we demand for renewable energy and thus in any combustion application is that it explain below, it could make perfect sense. help the region or nation reach the critical contains no carbon atoms, so the fuel mass required to increase the contribution itself does not give rise to any carbon Ammonia as a green fuel from renewables in their energy mix. And emissions. The harmful sulfur and heavy On the face of it, using green ammonia as a that in its turn could help displace existing metal emissions associated with heavy oil marine fuel ticks a great many boxes. The GHG-intense sources of generation, further bunker fuels are avoided too. lifecycle of green ammonia is climate neutral reducing aggregate global GHG emissions. With large diesel engines running on In the Sailing on Solar report, experts heavy fuel oil being so dominant in the from Ricardo Energy & Environment have shipping sector, these engines would be detailed some case studies of possible the natural entry point for the new marine installations, each of them close to fuel. Yet the report identifies three further busy shipping routes so as to allow easy potential shipboard applications: firstly, refuelling of vessels and loading of bulk indirect use as a hydrogen carrier for a ammonia carriers. Among the locations hydrogen fuel cell system; secondly, to examined are Morocco, Greece and Chile. react chemically in a solid oxide fuel cell system; and finally, and perhaps least How is green ammonia promisingly, for direct combustion in gas produced? turbines - as used in some military ships. Ammonia (NH3) is a compound of hydrogen As always, the substitution of the new and nitrogen, and in conventional industrial fuel may not be quite as simple as plug and methods the hydrogen is ‘reformed’ from play. Because ammonia can be difficult carbon-based feedstocks like natural gas, to combust, especially at low loads and/ oil or coal. In the green ammonia process, or speeds, a support fuel (probably a fossil renewable electricity powers electrolysers fuel or hydrogen) will likely be needed that split water into its constituents of to ensure smooth operation. And given

22 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Green fuel for ships

the corrosive nature of ammonia, the shipping needs to begin feeding into is a fuel that can be combusted in engines main fuel storage and supply system international fleets within the next five years, and potentially used for fuel cells in the would have to leak free and avoid certain if not earlier. As ships have a typical lifespan future. The pathway to its deployment materials such as copper, brass and zinc of 20 to 30 years, it is important to act soon. can begin using technologies familiar to alloys, as well as rubber and some plastics. MAN, a leading manufacturer of marine the maritime sector: diesel or dual-fuel The storage of ammonia is much less engines, is planning to develop one of engines in new and existing vessels. problematic than hydrogen, the only other its engine models to run on ammonia, But to make a success of this pathway, current contender as a carbon-free fuel: targeting brake thermal efficiency in the what is needed is certainty – both for the ammonia can be kept under pressure at region of 50 percent, notes the report. marine industry in building and retrofitting around 10 bar, or refrigerated to -33oC, Furthermore, MAN also indicated that such vessels, as well for a green ammonia though it is much less energy-dense than up to 3000 existing engines could be supply industry to manufacture at scale. heavy fuel oil and occupies roughly four retrofitted to run on ammonia. It is not This must be provided by strategic times the space of a fossil fuel tank giving clear from MAN’s plans whether their and policy measures adopted by the the same range. approach is compression- or spark- International Maritime Organization. This ignited. The firm anticipates that a would encourage green ammonia and Emissions profile relatively short timeframe of two to three vessels that can accommodate it to be Combustion of ammonia either under years would be required to develop and introduced within the timescales required stoichiometric or lean conditions can test its engine for ammonia combustion, to achieve the IMO’s decarbonization form NOx, notes Matthew Keenan, which indicates that it is technically targets. aftertreatment and chemistry technical achievable to have new and retrofitted What is more, demand from shipping specialist at Ricardo’s Shoreham Technical existing vessels with ammonia-operated could unlock investment in the green Centre. “NOx emissions are formed in engines in the next decade. ammonia supply chain, including low- Case study shows the combustion process under high carbon industry and renewable electricity. Morocco as an temperatures, above approximately Outlook This represents a unique opportunity for excellent location for a carbon neutral 2000 K,” he explains. “This can be Green ammonia, concludes the report, sustainable economic development and ammonia plant, controlled, to an extent, by optimizing is a technically feasible solution for distribution of bunkering infrastructure with abundant solar the engine operating conditions, and decarbonizing international shipping, around the world – especially for radiation, sea water and big volumes of additional NOx control will be achieved even though there are many development developing economies rich in renewable shipping along its through the application of an SCR-based steps required prior to its introduction. It energy potential. Atlantic coast aftertreatment system.” Spark-ignition stoichiometric

NH3 combustion will have higher NOx emissions compared to lean compression-ignition and lean spark- ignition NH3 combustion owing to the higher peak combustion temperatures. The aftertreatment is likely to be an SCR system, broadly similar to those already in use on many lean combustion engines. And no separate AdBlue supply will be needed as the reductant is contained in the principal fuel; even so, the aftertreatment and reductant supply may impact a vessel’s payload and packaging. As for particulate matter (PM), so Nacional (©2009). Google Inst. Geogr. Map data ©2019 GeoBasis-DE/BKG long the bane of the diesel engine, the Ricardo engine performance development department cautions that PM emissions can still be expected from NH3-fuelled engines. However, NH3 is expected to result in a much less visible emissions signature, with reduced black smoke. As with diesel engines, the lubricating oil will contribute to PM emissions, along with any hydrocarbon-based fuel used as a combustion enhancer. Ammonia in other engines

Also, signal the specialists, the NH3 fuel Thanks to its hydrogen content, ammonia can operate in a variety of different combustion engines and itself may form solid nitrates which will energy conversion devices. As well as conventional reciprocating piston engines, ammonia can also be contribute to PM emissions. Appropriate burned in gas turbines. However, its lower energy density than conventional jet fuel rules it out for long- aftertreatment filtration systems may be and even medium-haul aviation applications. For the same reason, it is not a suitable road fuel but, says required to minimize particulate matter. Ricardo, NH3 has the potential to be a viable fuel for stationary power. Fuel cell applications are still under study, and initial indications are that ammonia could operate equally Timescales well in both PEM fuel cells, with their higher precious metal content, and in solid oxide fuel cells which run at The urgency of the global climate crisis and high temperatures. In both cases, ammonia could offer advantages over hydrogen, which has to be stored the slow pace of upgrades and replacements under much higher pressure. in the marine sector mean that low-carbon

RQ • Q2 • 2019 23 Ricardo News

RICARDO NEWS Latest developments from around the global Ricardo organization

Rail digital resilience

International rolling stock manufacturer that was introduced to the UK network industry standards and national legislation. Bombardier Transportation has appointed in 2017. It will become increasingly This includes the Network and Information Ricardo and Roke Manor Research to familiar to the country’s commuters over Systems Directive (NIS regulations), as well implement a new approach for managing the next two years as it is added to fleets as well-defined practices from sources digital risk in connected transport serving the south west, eastern and such as National Institute of Standards and systems, focusing on the AVENTRA west midlands regions. Bombardier has Technology, Certified Information Systems platform. This project expands on the requested an in-depth assessment of the Security Professional, and previous unique digital resilience collaboration AVENTRA’s exposure to a range of possible vulnerability and risk reviews conducted by between Ricardo and Roke, a partnership threats – from espionage to remote Roke for the UK Ministry of Defence. built upon the twin foundations of hacking – and to evaluate the potential Once the investigations are concluded, Ricardo’s position as a global leader in impact on its operation. the team will provide Bombardier with technology and innovation across the Doug Blanc, Ricardo Rail’s head of a detailed risk-based assessment of transportation and mobility sectors, and digital railway, explains: “Unlike traditional the AVENTRA platform, accompanied Roke’s world-class experience in cyber enterprise security assessments, the by recommendations that identify security and communications. Ricardo–Roke approach focuses squarely vulnerabilities and mitigate risk in an The Ricardo-Roke team will work with on the unique characteristics and priorities appropriate way, for incorporation into Bombardier’s in-house engineers to of day-to-day rail operations, such as the Bombardier’s existing risk management produce a full appraisal of the AVENTRA importance of maintaining a safe and open practices. This assessment will provide vehicle’s digital security risk profile, environment for passengers whilst ensuring Bombardier customers with a significant starting from the perspective of the minimum disruption to the network.” evidence base with which to demonstrate priorities of Bombardier customers. The To deliver the findings, the team will compliance with the NIS cyber AVENTRA is an electrical multiple unit train benchmark the AVENTRA against current assessment framework.

Automotive cyber security consultation The 5StarS consortium – which takes in Ricardo and Roke, together consultation paper will enable manufacturers to gain assurance in their with HORIBA MIRA, Thatcham Research and Axillium Research – is products, use cyber resilience as a market differentiator and establish aimed at addressing the increased cyber security threats associated meaningful ways of communicating cyber security risk to consumers. with connected and autonomous vehicles. In support of this goal, the The paper provides a roadmap to increasing assurance, which consortium has released a consultation paper to seek feedback on a starts by meeting the requirements of the emerging regulations and new assurance framework to assess the cyber security of vehicles. standards such as ISO/SAE 21434, while introducing independent The 5StarS project, which is funded by Innovate UK, is seeking vehicle vulnerability assessments. This allows the framework to be feedback from automotive manufacturers, government and insurers adapted to cope with continually changing threats. The paper also to ensure this revolutionary framework is readily adopted when proposes a consumer-facing risk rating system to reassure consumers finalized this summer. The 5StarS assurance framework outlined in the about their choice of vehicle.

24 RQ • Q2 • 2019 Ricardo News VR helps global engineering collaboration

With complex automotive engineering below], was showcased for the first programmes being carried out to time in May to delegates at the Vienna unprecedentedly tight timescales and to Motor Symposium. It enables users to ever higher levels of design optimization, investigate complex CAD designs, at full the process of formal gateway- scale, in a shared immersive VR session, based design reviews is crucial to the connecting interdisciplinary teams, achievement of performance targets and customers and suppliers across the world design for manufacture and assembly. in a 3D virtual environment. ZEV vision for UK heavy Ultimately, market success can depend The live demonstration in Vienna, on the gateway structure, too. in collaboration with engineers at goods transport This challenge is further compounded Ricardo’s UK headquarters, was based A new Ricardo study, commissioned by the Committee on by the almost universal requirement for on an engine CAD model in which users Climate Change as part of research for its Net Zero report, the collaboration of different specialist were able to manipulate and examine outlines the costs and requirements of infrastructure to teams on an international basis as individual components as well as show, support a zero-emission heavy goods vehicle fleet in the automakers seek to develop platforms hide and isolate sub-assemblies. UK by 2050, as required by the Government’s proposed applicable to multiple markets; at the The app’s dynamic cross-sectioning decarbonization targets. same time these teams must also draw tool also allows users to visualize the Although electric and hydrogen vehicles are emerging on their own engineering resources from innermost components – something as viable alternatives to diesel in the passenger car multiple locations. that would not be possible even with fleet, the most cost-effective route to decarbonizing Ricardo has invested in the physical prototypes – while also the heavy-duty vehicle sector is not so straightforward. development of advanced immersive assessing the potential for component Policymakers need a full understanding of the entire Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities to promote clashes, manufacturability and ease of ecosystem necessary to enable net-zero emission heavy effective and efficient design optimization assembly. In manipulating the model, goods vehicle transport to become a reality. The Ricardo by geographically dispersed teams. This users can also take measurements, add study provides this much-needed infrastructure insight. technology, in the form of the Ricardo VR 3D annotations, and record screenshots A range of infrastructure types was considered, Engineering Design Review app [depicted and voice memos. including refuelling stations for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles; depot-based chargers and ultra-rapid charge points for battery electric vehicles; electric road system infrastructure – specifically overhead catenaries for battery-electric or battery-hybrid vehicles; and hybrid solutions combining elements of the above. In addition to estimating the infrastructure costs for net-zero emission heavy goods vehicles, the project also considered issues around build rates and other infrastructure changes needed to deliver these scenarios. Identification of these challenges will help policymakers evaluate the broader implications of the deployment of various types of infrastructure, facilitating well-informed decision-making. The study concludes that implementing an infrastructure to support zero emission heavy-duty vehicles is achievable, but there are key challenges including planning, co-ordination, supply chains, resources and materials, and the need for a skilled workforce and a strong government policy to enable the market to deliver.

Advanced hybrid transmission for Geely Auto Group is one of China’s leading automakers and is a name that and optimal decision-making processes, it will also help in meeting commands international respect for its focus on new energy vehicles. To challenging time-to-market targets. In addition to the core engineering support its future product requirements, Geely has selected Ricardo to team, support will be available from Ricardo’s technical centres in assist with the development, right through to production implementation, other locations including the Czech Republic. Ricardo’s involvement will of a new advanced transmission for range-extended plug-in hybrid encompass the mechanical design, control and calibration of the new vehicles. Key requirements for the transmission are high efficiency and transmission. competitive cost for high volume A- and B-segment products. The collaboration with Geely builds on Ricardo’s strong track The approach taken is highly collaborative and flexible, with co-located record in assisting a wide range of customers in the development of joint teams comprised of Geely and Ricardo engineers based in both the advanced transmission technologies and successfully bringing UK and in China. Not only does this support good internal communications them to production.

RQ • Q2 • 2019 25 Ricardo News

Offshore wind energy expansion

In the face of increased demand for offshore wind energy, and in transportation and installation, the size of turbines employed can the light of the UK government’s recently announced ambition to be greater. At the same time, the challenges of maintaining and deliver 30 percent of the country’s electricity from this renewable operating wind turbines in the marine environment are considerably source by 2030, Ricardo is creating a dedicated team to service a greater than those on shore, meaning that operation and significant growth in the parallel demand for consultancy expertise, maintenance costs are much higher. including the provision of advanced technologies and innovations The key business driver for the success of any wind energy project developed by the company. is the cost per megawatt hour of electricity generated, and for this The new team represents a significant expansion of Ricardo’s reason, technologies that can help deliver reliability and service life activity in offshore wind consulting, and builds upon the company’s are extremely valuable. This has been the focus of significant effort investments in technology development specific to the unique by the Ricardo Innovations team in recent years – work which has demands of offshore wind energy. The marine environment resulted in the development of a range of proprietary wind energy brings significant opportunities as the prevailing winds are both innovations that the company can now exploit in the provision of strong and reliable and, freed from the constraints of land-based high-value engineering and strategic consulting services.

Australian rail acquisition In May 2019 Ricardo plc announced a share engineering, project management, human of Transport Engineering expands Ricardo’s rail purchase agreement to acquire the assets, factors, testing and commissioning and systems business to around 700 members of staff. operations and employees of Australia’s Transport integration. It has delivered an impressive record “Transport Engineering has built a first- Engineering Pty Ltd business, with the acquisition of growth since it started trading in 2015 and class operation in Australia, with an impressive expected to complete on or before 30 June 2019. employs circa 100 engineers and specialists portfolio of projects and capabilities,” Transport Engineering has a strong technical across Australia and parts of Asia. commented Ricardo Rail MD Paul Seller. “By advisory capability taking in the full lifecycle Ricardo’s interest in the rail sector is supporting the consultancy’s desire to offer an management of rolling stock and maintenance underpinned by the increased global demand increased range of technical disciplines to its procurement programmes on behalf of its for urban and high-speed transport networks clients, we can help it continue to grow within the clients, as well as the provision of on-site and the rapid integration of critical and complex Australian market and, by extension, support inspectors and auditors in suppliers’ premises. rail technologies as governments respond to our mission to build a world-class rail services It also covers safety engineering, maintenance accelerating levels of urbanization. The addition business.”

Ricardo receives Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation award in 1517. The key modern charitable aim of own long and proud history, being given “in this Livery Company is ‘to promote fellowship recognition of over a century of this British among those engaged in the trade of transport’. company’s world-leading technologies in The Sir Henry Royce Foundation Award has been automotive engineering and transportation, presented each year since 1983, primarily to including the 1917 battle tank engine, the recognize endeavours in the sphere of transport, turbulent side-valve cylinder head of 1921 used of national or international significance and almost universally until the 1940s, and the involving skill, dedication or technical perfection Comet diesel developed of the highest order, in conformity with the in 1931 – the design standard until the eighties. untiring pursuit of excellence that was the Post war, Ricardo developed the Harwell Air This special award was presented to Ricardo at philosophy of Sir Henry Royce, the engineering Pollution Model, 4WD viscous couplings for rally a dinner of the Worshipful Company of Carmen, genius behind Rolls-Royce. cars, the Bugatti Veyron transmission and V8 a Livery Company of the City of London founded The award citation reflects Ricardo’s engines for McLaren road cars.”

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