Systems Engineering and Scalable Architecture Design of Electric Vehicles

Dear Colleagues,

Scalable vehicle architectures have been a common practice in automotive engineering. They allow (i) modularity (components can be added or upgraded independently), (ii) flexibility (easy sizing of components to fit applications), and (iii) interoperability (effortless integration with other systems or technologies). Such architectures decrease costs, promote reliability, and allow faster development iterations between vehicle variants. Using this paradigm, one would have thought that we would have arrived at standardized (i) 400V or 800V battery architectures, (ii) battery management systems, (iii) power electronics and motor controllers, (iv) high-torque-density electric motors, etc. All the systems would be sized according to the application, while the architecture and interfaces would be fixed within and across automotive manufacturers. Somehow, every new electric vehicle (EV) platform appears to be a new prototype in terms of powertrain technology. We hypothesize that applying systems engineering principles and standardization to the architecture and interfaces could maximize the benefits of EVs, such as low emissions and reduced maintenance, while addressing challenges related to range, vehicle weight, and overall safety. Systems engineering means that there is traceability between targets and objectives, system design and requirements, and verification and validation (V&V).

This Special Issue aims to explore system-engineered scalable architecture design for electric vehicles (EVs). Topics include the following:

• System-engineered lightweight electric vehicle architectures targeted at (but not limited to) urban environments;
• System-engineered scalable architectures for batteries, electric motors, and power electronic motor control systems;
• System-engineered scalable architectures for battery interchangeability and charging;
• System-engineered scalable EV platforms for a high level of vehicle automation (L3+ SAE).

Dr. Diomidis Katzourakis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. World Electric Vehicle Journal is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• lightweight electric vehicles
• scalable electric architecture
• systems engineering
• requirements
• battery architecture