The current generation of electric vehicles have made significant progress during the recent years, however they have still not achieved the user acceptance needed to support broader main-stream market uptake. These vehicles are generally still too expensive and limited in range to be used as the first car for a typical family. Long charging times and uncertainties in range prediction are common as further barriers to broader market success. For this reason the CEVOLVER project takes a user-centric approach to create battery-electric vehicles that are usable for comfortable long day trips whilst the installed battery is dimensioned for affordability. Furthermore the vehicles will be designed to take advantage of future improvements in the fast-charging infrastructure that many countries are now planning. CEVOLVER tackles the challenge by making improvements in the vehicle itself to reduce energy consumption as well as maximizing the usage of connectivity for further optimization of both component and system design, as well as control and operating strategies. This will encompass measures that range from the on-board thermal management and vehicle energy management systems, to connectivity that supports range-prediction as a key element for eco-driving and eco-routing driver assistance. Within the project it will be demonstrated that long-trip are achievable even without further increases in battery size that would lead to higher cost. The driver is guided to fast-charging infrastructure along the route that ensures sufficient charging power is available along the route in order to complete the trip with only minimal additional time needed for the overall trip. The efficient transferability of the results to further vehicles is ensured by adopting a methodology that proves the benefit with an early assessment approach before implementation in OEM demonstrator vehicles.

As car and truck engines have become quieter and cleaner over the past decades, particulate and noise emissions from road-tyre interaction have become the dominant source of traffic-generated particulate emission and traffic noise. Both particulates (airborne or as microplastics) and noise are suspected to contribute to negative health outcomes for those living near busy roads. Currently, non-exhaust particulate emissions are not regulated. Tyre noise is subject to labelling for passenger vehicles, but not yet for trucks. Legislation is in preparation but will require a solid body of evidence of the mechanisms of generation, dispersion and potential health effects of both particulate and noise emissions, in order to introduce measures that are effective and widely accepted. LEON-T will contribute to this body of evidence by investigating both particulate and noise emissions from tyres, and in doing so define and propose practical standardised methods for both lab and road testing—of tyre abrasion rate (mostly larger particles) and airborne particulate emissions. We will also further investigate and model the dispersion and environmental fate of these particulate emissions, as they form a sizeable fraction of microplastics found in the environment. The potential effects of tyre noise on cardiovascular health will be investigated using waking tests and sleep studies. Here we will consider not just average sound pressure level, but also sound qualities such as tonality and timbre—as these can be influenced by tyre and road surface design. The insights gained in these investigations will be used to optimise the design, prototyping and demonstration of a novel airless tyre, which we expect will combine reduced noise, wear and emissions with high safety, reliability and comfort. LEON-T will make policy recommendations to mitigate against potential health hazards caused by tyre particulate and noise emissions.

More and more industrial sectors are demanding high performance composite materials to face new challenges demanded by the transport sector. Carbon and glass fibre unidirectional continuous tape reinforced composites are one of the most promising options. It would be reasonable to expect that the manufacturing methods to obtain composite parts made of this hybrid material will be capable to tailor-made and optimize even more the advantageous properties given by the tapes nature. However, at the moment, these technologies are not mature enough for a full industrial implementation. Main existing barriers are related to the high consumption of resources, lower rates of automation, high production of defective and the subsequent growth of the manufacturing costs. FORTAPE aims to solve these drawbacks through the development of an efficient and optimized integrated system for the manufacturing of complex parts based on unidirectional fibre tapes for its application in the automotive and aeronautical industry, with the minimum use of materials and energy. To achieve this objective, three main routes for fibre impregnation will be researched to manufacture the unidirectional carbon and glass fibre tapes: novel heating up technologies, melted supercritical fluid-aided thermoplastic polymers and fluidized bed of powders. Novel combination of process-machine approaches will be applied in overmoulding and in-situ consolidation to manufacture the composite parts for the targeted sectors. Novel mathematical modelling and computational simulation concepts will be developed to support the structural optimization and the failure prevention and new instrumentation strategies for process control will be implemented for the selection of the best process. The FORTAPE consortium, led by CTAG, gathers 10 partners from 5 different European countries, and covers the whole value chain needed to develop new composite technologies with efficient use of materials and energy.

Hi-Drive addresses a number of key challenges which are currently hindering the progress of developments in vehicle automation. The key aim of the project is to focus on testing and demonstrating automated driving, by improving intelligent vehicle technologies, to cover a large set of traffic environments, not currently achievable. Hi-Drive enables testing of a variety of functionalities, from motorway chauffeur to urban chauffeur, explored in diverse scenarios with heterogeneous driving cultures across Europe. In particular, the Hi-Drive trials will consider European TEN-T corridors and urban nodes in large and medium cities, with a specific attention to demanding, error-prone, conditions. The project’s ambition is to considerably extend the operational design domain (ODD) from the present situation, which frequently demands interventions from the human driver. Therefore, the project concept builds on reaching a widespread and continuous ODD, where automation can operate for longer periods and interoperability is assured across borders and brands. The project also investigates what factors influence user behavior and acceptance, as well as understanding the needs of other road users interacting with these vehicles. The removal of fragmentation in the ODD is expected to give rise to a gradual transition from a conditional operation towards higher levels of automated driving. With these aims, Hi-Drive associates a consortium of 41 European partners with a wide range of interests and capabilities covering the main impact areas which affect users, and the transport system, and enhance societal benefits. The project intends to contribute towards market deployment of automated systems by 2030. All this cannot be achieved by testing only. Accordingly, the work includes outreach activities on business innovation and standardization, plus extended networking with the interested stakeholders, coordinating parallel activities in Europe and overseas.