extra The Future of Luxury-class Hybrid Vehicles with Range Extender Hybrid vehicles DEVELOPMENT HYBRID VEHICLES © Pininfarina Development of Luxury-class Hybrid Vehicles with Range Extender Pininfarina, together with its partners, are developing luxury-class hybrid vehicles with an ecologically sustainable powertrain system and a range extender. To cover a wide range of sedan and SUV models, each vehicle is designed to provide common inter- faces while being modular, scalable and weight-efficient. HYBRID VEHICLES Since 2018, the Engineering Development performs the complete vehicle integration - Already in the 1970s, Pininfarina was deal- Centers in Italy and Germany have been from concept via feasibility of the styling, ing with aerodynamics and alternative busy developing premium and luxury class target setting and weighting, prototype energy sources. Now, with the Eta-Beta hybrid vehicles along with the Design Cen- manufacturing, the virtual and physical and Metrocubo projects, the engineers ter in Cambiano (Turin), Italy. In coopera- prototype engineering up to production have set their sights on hybrid vehicles. tion with various customers, Pininfarina launch. [1]. 2 Hybrid vehicles AUTHORS ARCHITECTURE smaller-segment cars within the vehicle family. The chassis has the following Currently, luxury-class hybrid vehicles features: are being developed with an ecologically - An electronic servo steering system sustainable drive system with range mounted to the axle drive for addi- extension (E-REV). The central objective tional steering assistance and commu- was an attractive exterior and interior nication with the brake controller and Luca Guardamagna design as well as the extensive use of the vehicle assistance control units is Head of Program Management technologies and features in the field of - An electrohydraulic braking and con- at Pininfarina Engineering S.r.l. autonomous driving, 5G and Wi-Fi, trol system with a brake boosting in Turin (Italy). FIGURE 1. function for the anti-lock braking sys- The architecture of the front and rear tem and the electronic stability control chassis is designed to guarantee an opti- (ESC), which offers a high degree of mum balance between dynamic han- dynamic brake power with rapid pres- dling, steering, driving behavior, and sure buildup. NVH. The front suspension consists of a The body structure is designed to offer high double-wishbone semi-virtual type an optimum balance between power, Filippo Rinaldi and the rear suspension is a 4.5 multi- weight and safety performance. The use is Engineering Manager at Pininfarina Engineering S.r.l. link. The main components are made of of ultra-high-strength steels makes sure in Turin (Italy). aluminum. of this. However, various lightweight The front and rear chassis each include construction materials such as alumi- air springs for a self-leveling feature. The num and carbon fiber are used in critical driver has three different settings to areas where necessary (shock towers, choose from here. The rear axle is also front and rear crash beams). equipped with a so-called rear wheel steering (RWS) system using central MODULAR PLATFORM DESIGN Markus Leder actuators to provide additional steering iis Head of Engineering angle at the rear wheels. A modular platform design and a sharing at Pininfarina Deutschland GmbH The vehicle architecture offers a flexi- strategy (or architectural bandwidth) in Munich. ble bandwidth of front and rear under- were selected in order to cover the com- body chassis/suspension geometries. plete range of sedan and SUV models. This allows a modular design and the For this reason, the vehicles were all sharing of scaled-down variants across designed to offer common interfaces as FIGURE 1 Design of prototype (© Pininfarina) 3 DEVELOPMENT HYBRID VEHICLES Corner radars Front radar Lane Change Assist Blind Spot Detection Front Cross Traffic Alert Rear Cross Traffic Alert Front camera Lane Departure Warning Surround View 360° Night vision camera Lane Keeping Assist Lane Departure Protection Emergency Brake Assist Forward Collision Warning Surround view camera Parking Assist Autonomous Parking Ultrasonic parking sensors Parking Assist Night Vision Parking Assist Autonomous Parking Autonomous Interior camera Parking Adaptive Cruise Control Traffic Sign Assist Traffic Jam Assist Surround View 360° Unsteady Drive Warning Head Light Assist Lane Change Assist Blind Spot Detection Front Cross Traffic Alert TPMS Rear Cross Traffic Alert ADAS ECU ESC VCU EPS FIGURE 2 Electronic control units (ECUs), ultrasonic sensors, cameras, radar systems and LiDAR systems for autonomous driving and driver assistance functions (© Pininfarina) Glossary for FIGURE 2 ADAS Advanced Driver Assistance Systems cycle). The electric motors also act as ECU Electronic Control Unit generators allowing up to 0.3 g of energy EPS Electric Power Steering to be supplied back to the battery during ESC Electronic Stability Control regenerative braking. TPMS Tire Pressure Monitoring System The high-voltage lithium battery is liq- uid-cooled. The flat packaging layout VCU Vehicle Control Unit under the floor optimizes vehicle weight and center of gravity, providing optimum cabin ergonomics, roominess, and cargo space/volume. well as being modular, scalable and in both AC and DC rapid charging The range extender is an extremely weight-efficient. modes. What’s more, a highly efficient low-emission gasoline internal combus- To ensure the efficient use of the avail- low-emission turbocharged two-cylinder tion engine with two cylinders, a dis- able space, the battery pack can be con- engine is used as a range extender. placement of 1 liter and a turbocharger figured for a wide variety of shapes and The series-produced hybrid E-REV providing 80 kW at a speed of 5500 rpm. sizes. powertrain system and the control sys- In this fully integrated system, generator tem have the following characteristics: and inverter were designed as a complete - The energy transferred to the wheels unit. ELECTRIC POWERTRAIN SYSTEM comes directly from the electric WITH RANGE EXTENDER motors in all driving styles and THERMAL MANAGEMENT The electric powertrain system with conditions range extender (E-REV) in the vehicle is - An internal combustion engine range The thermal management system is con- based on a plug-in serial hybrid architec- extender with no mechanical connec- trolled by the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) ture and has two electric motors located tion to the wheels is used as a genera- and manages various different cooling at the front and rear axles. Both together tor to charge the high-voltage battery. requirements of the vehicle and the cor- achieve a total motor power of up to 300 As a result, the range extender can be responding operating modes. The system kW. Energy storage is ensured by a used in the optimum power and was designed to meet the cooling high-voltage battery (lithium-ion) torque range and aim for maximum requirements of the E-REV powertrain designed to achieve an optimum com- efficiency regardless of the conditions system and the 4-zone HVAC systems promise between energy density and at the wheels. with the help of the following features: power density and guaranteeing a long The E-REV powertrain system allows the - A high-temperature cooling circuit product life even at a high number of vehicle to travel for more than 80 km in (~110 °C) for the range extender charging cycles. An intelligent charge pure electric mode and for over 600 km - Two low-temperature cooling circuits control system allows battery charging in combined mode (per WLTP driving (~60 °C) for the additional range 4 extender components (turbocharger, ment functions such as radio and mul- control, your sitting position, music, inverter and generator) as well as the timedia control and visualization, incident light etc. electric motors and inverters or other smartphone mirroring and access to In the back of the vehicle, there are three heating and ventilation (HV) the internet and the social media. touch screen displays, one in the front components The touch screen in the central console back seat and one in the rear central has a 12.2” high-resolution digital TFT console. The two configurable screens in full-color display. The graphics were the back seats are high-resolution digital AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AND designed and integrated so as to put TFT full-color displays equipped with DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEMS intuitive internet-secure functions and remote control. They play all entertain- features at the fingertips of driver and ment programs available in the vehicle. Pininfarina is cooperating with various passengers alike. More than 300 of these The touch screen display in the central partners to develop ideas for automated functions and features are organized on console also has a configurable high-res- features with maximum safety. It is different levels and in different menus, olution digital TFT full-color display and doing this because it will only be possi- for example: controls the two displays in the back of ble to achieve a new level of connectivity - Vehicle adjustment including changing the vehicle. It also manages other func- for the vehicles if wireless and cellular the dynamics settings (steering, sus- tions (air-conditioning in the back, sit- 5G technologies are integrated along pension, electric motors) and adjusting ting comfort) as well as adjustment and with on-board visual cameras and radar the driver assistance and ambient light control. The display in the central con- and LiDAR systems.