Tomorrow’s Mobility

Sustainable Technologies for the automotive sector

Week 3 – Session 6 – Trends in Hybrid vehicles

Maria Thirouard – El Hadj Miliani

Introduction

I- Batteries with higher energy density

II- 48V Mild Hybrid systems

Conclusion

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Introduction
In this lesson, the possible future of hybrids and ongoing trend of hybrid technologies are
discussed.

In last decade, the hybrid technology has matured significantly, and still technological innovations
that will improve the performances and reduce the costs of the hybrid vehicle are being introduced.

This lesson concentrates on two main aspects: First, the batteries, which are, as discussed earlier, a
key point of improvement by increasing the energy density and reducing the cost; and second, the
48 Volts mild hybrid system, which will be explained later. We believe these are the most important
issues to consider as of today.

I- Batteries with higher energy density

Battery subsystems are a significant part of the cost of hybrid vehicles. Each battery is different,
depending on its chemistries, materials that are used, and consequently, the performances
achieved. Batteries must provide the power needed to assist the thermal engine during
acceleration. Batteries also need to capture the regenerative energy without excessive
deterioration.
Battery
Battery

Energy Acceleration Regenerative

Chemistries Materials
density energy

The current two major battery technologies used in hybrid electric vehicles are nickel-metal hydride
(NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion). Compared to nickel-metal hydride, lithium-ion batteries are more
performant in terms of energy density and power, AND at the same time, they are smaller in size.
Even if the cost of lithium-ion batteries is higher, it’s quickly decreasing, making it a promising
option.

NiMH Li-ion

Source: Wikimedia Commons

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As explained in the last lessons, in hybrid electric vehicles, the battery is mostly used as an energy
buffer, so hybrid vehicles use a small-capacity battery. Even though batteries are considered a key
issue for hybrid vehicles, the system is very complex and there are other issues to address.
Energy densities of different battery technologies
VOLUME ENERGY
DENSITY [WH/L]

Lithium
batteries

Nickel-Metal-
Hybrid
batteries

Lead-acid
batteries

MASS ENERGY
DENSITY [WH/KG]

However, for an electric vehicle, the battery issue is essential. Among all the components of an
electric vehicle, a lot of research effort is nowadays focused on higher energy-density batteries. The
energy density gives the driving range, so higher energy density means that a car can drive more
kilometers between charges. Obviously, cost, safety, energy density, rates of charge and discharge
AND cycle life are all critical for battery-driven cars to be more extensively adopted.

ZEV: Zero Emissions Vehicle

High energy-density
batteries

• Cost

• Safety

• Energy Density

• Rates of charge and discharge

• Cycle life

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Electric vehicles are nowadays using lithium-ion batteries. It is important to mention that, when we
talk about lithium-ion batteries, we are actually talking about a family of batteries. Inside this
family, new developments are expected that will improve the performances.

Today’s lithium-ion batteries use liquid electrolytes to transport the lithium ions between the
anode (the negative side of the battery) and the cathode (the positive side of the battery). One of
the improvement points of these batteries is the charging time. If a battery cell is charged too
quickly, this can cause dendrites to form and cross through the liquid electrolytes, causing a short
circuit that could lead to explosions and fires.
Overview of Li-ion battery technologies

Source: Dr. Marcel Meeus - EMIRI

Ongoing research studies new high-capacity metal-oxide cathode, high-capacity anode, and solid-
state electrolyte with high oxidation potential. There is a wide variety of solid-state electrolytes
with different materials. They all try to address the issue of fast charging while increasing the
energy density, dealing with safety issues and keeping the cost low.

These are just a few examples. A long road is still ahead, and researchers will keep looking for more
energy density, faster charging, less weight and lower cost.

II- 48V Mild Hybrid systems

Mild Hybrid is an architecture that uses, in addition to a thermal engine, a small battery to provide
some boost of torque. Well, up until now, Mild Hybrids use a low voltage battery that can be either
12 or 24 volts. The torque boost produced in such hybrid vehicles is fairly low.

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 Mild-Hybrid

12 or 24 volts

If looking at the Full Hybrid or the HEVs, the battery is bigger, so the vehicle is able to run in full
electric mode. In this case, a 200V or higher voltage battery is usually used. This is considered a
high-voltage battery with all the security issues that come along. Additionally, the transmission
might be very complex as is the software to control both the thermal and electric systems.
Therefore, the price is very high.
Full Hybrid or HEVs

200 volts

Complex
Safety Price
Transmission

The mild hybrid 48 Volts architecture is a solution to deal with the high-cost of Full Hybrid high-
voltage architecture and to reduce the complexity. Since the high voltage boundary is set at 60
volts, the voltage level of 48 Volts has been defined to avoid all safety issues. This way, the
insulation on wiring and connectors can be limited, making the system less complicated.
Mild-Hybrid

48 volts

No complex
Safety Price
Transmission

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Another simplification comes from the fact that this architecture can be integrated in a
conventional powertrain without the use of a complex transmission as it’s mainly used in parallel
hybrid architectures. The electric motor is linked to the thermal engine through a simple belt. With
a limited power level, the cooling system is also simplified. Finally, the result is a hybrid vehicle at a
lower cost.

Now what are the functionalities of a 48V Mild Hybrid vehicle?

Under normal cruising driving conditions, the mild hybrid 48-Volt system acts as an alternator and
charges the 48 Volts lithium-ion battery. It can also be used to charge the regular 12-Volts battery,
working through a DC/DC converter that steps the 48 Volts down to 12 Volts. The system also
allows energy recovery through regenerative braking; this energy can be used to boost the
acceleration provided by the internal combustion engine through the belt. It can also be used as a
starting motor to restart the engine when it has been shut down while the vehicle is stopped.
48V MILD HYBRID

The deployment of 48-volt technology providing additional boost torque enables more dynamic
handling and better performances. It contributes to the reduction of CO 2 emissions through
regenerative braking and Start-Stop features. It also provides the energy to power electrical
components classed as high power loads. This trend is currently being pushed by European
carmakers as a promising path to improve hybrid vehicle performances at a lower price.

It’s stated as the solution providing most CO2 grams reduced per invested € in current scenarios.
48V solutions can yield up to 30% CO2 reduction in urban driving conditions, and it’s predicted as
much as 50% of the EU market share by 2030.
Mild-Hybrid

48 volts

CO2 gain -30% CO2

€ invested in urban-driving conditions

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Conclusion
To sum up:

Regarding only the batteries, the current bet is on lithium-ion technology. There’s still a lot of
research on this area to improve performance of hybrid vehicles and, most of all, performance of
electric cars.

If looking at HEVs globally, the European trend is to develop 48V Mild Hybrid vehicles. In this way,
the system is simpler, with higher performances than the 12V Mild Hybrid vehicle, and it is a lot
cheaper than the Full Hybrid vehicle.

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