Development of a Modular Urban Electric Vehicle

Abstract

As urban centers continue to grow, cities will benefit from introducing urban vehicles as an alternative to large personal vehicles. The Mechatronics Vehicle System Laboratory has developed an urban electric vehicle with a novel modular approach that fulfills the many needs of the urban commuters. This thesis focuses of on the development of the urban vehicle platform, which is used to support the designed corner module system for complete vehicle control.

The vehicle was completed by first developing a set of high level constraints to narrow the scope of the project into an achievable goal. Next, the detailed design of the modular components was completed and the vehicle was manufactured, largely in-house. After manufacturing, the vehicle was commissioned and tested for simple functionality on university property.

The Mechatronics Vehicle Systems Laboratory Urban Vehicle integrates two different styles of corner modules; has a weight of 500 kg; powertrain output of 30 kW continuous, 90 kW burst, regenerative braking enabled; 77 V nominal, 4.62 kWh high voltage battery delivering 52 kW burst; hydraulic system supplying 2 GPM continuous, 100 GPM burst fluid at 2000 PSI; drive-by-wire; independent mechanical brake, anti-lock brake system capable; skateboard style steel tube frame; and controlled with a decentralized processor network communicating over controller area network.

Testing showed that all developed systems work as intended and come together to form a fully functional modular urban vehicle. The successful functionality of the vehicle validates the developed corner modules and other unique technology required to operate the system.