Call: Electric vehicles’ enhanced performance and integration into the transport system and the grid

• Health, demographic change and wellbeing;
• Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy;
• Secure, clean and efficient energy;
• Smart, green and integrated transport;
• Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials;
• Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies;
• Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.

Within this programme Horizon 2020 will provide funding for a resource efficient transport that respects the environment, aims at a better mobility, less congestion, more safety and security, supports a global leadership for the European transport industry and targets a socio-economic and behavioural research and forward looking activities for policy making.

This call of the Transport Challenge represents an essential component of road transport research and innovation. It includes research, technological developments, innovation and demonstration in support of improvements in energy efficiency of road transport vehicles and the use of new types of non-conventional energies in road transport such as electricity, compressed natural gas (CNG) and Liquefied natural gas (LNG), renewable and tailored fuels.

The scope of the activities include both advanced power-train technologies and new vehicle architectures, weight reduction, improved aerodynamics and rolling resistance and component development for alternative fuel vehicles. Concerning new forms of energy, the interfaces between the vehicles and the recharging infrastructure will also need to be taken into account with particular attention to standardisation issues. Demonstration activities will play an essential role in ensuring a proper and timely deployment of the new technologies. In this respect, innovation activities linked with other EU funding mechanisms such as cohesion and regional funds should be considered.

This call has been defined taking into account the other calls and initiatives where the Transport Challenge is concerned, particularly the calls on ‘Mobility for Growth’ and ‘Smart Cities and Communities’, and the ‘Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2’ joint undertakings. Multisectorial research involving other research and innovation areas such as Energy and Environment coupled with research on new materials, advanced production and Information and Communication Technologies will be encouraged, particularly in fields such as advanced energy storage systems and interfaces between vehicles and energy recharging infrastructures. In addition to the topics of this call, a topic on post lithium ion batteries for electric automotive applications” (NMP 17 – 2014) is included in “Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing (NMP)” under “Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies” (LEIT). 

The limited driving range of electric vehicles is one of the biggest deployment challenges for electromobility. A ground-up re-design is needed to fully take advantage of the design freedoms and the opportunities in defining and developing the electric and electronic architecture and components. This should result in increased efficiency and range and make a major contribution towards the transition to fully electric vehicles (FEV's).

A particularly important element that needs to be addressed is the battery management system (BMS), which is fundamental for many aspects of electrified vehicle performance, from energy efficiency (and therefore range) to safety, battery life and reliability.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) significantly contribute to enhancing the energy efficiency and thus the range of the vehicle by providing accurate prediction of the range and offering personalised options and services to the driver. Furthermore ICT supports recharging that is coordinated with the local electric grid capabilities. Such coordination must accommodate not only passenger EVs, but also meet the requirements of electric buses, vans or trucks, which are expected to require high-powered fast recharging.