Electromobility is increasingly calling existing business models into question. New interfaces such as to the energy industry are developing and need to be designed efficiently for the success of the technology. Therefore the product ‘mobility’, together with its service components, must be re-examined, because, as of today, there is no consistent concept for integrating fleets of electric vehicles (EVs) into the energy supply system – neither economically nor technically. Smart products and services in the field of EV charging, generally referred to as connected charging services, are a promising approach for incentivizing beneficial charging behavior. By utilizing the electric vehicles’ load shifting potential, they might be able to harmonize customer and industry needs. However, there is uncertainty how electric cars can maximize their specific contribution within Germany’s future energy structures. Initially this research project identifies future charging strategies for EVs in distributed energy systems and derives an approach to successfully bring them to market. Energy management products that are addressing the concerns of the customer’s local ecosystem (“local energy management”) are adding most value in the medium term. Long term, and with the increasing market penetration of electromobility, large-scale applications that are aggregating fleets of EVs will offer significant market potential. Today’s electric vehicles with their charging and communication infrastructure have only limited access to the aforementioned incentive systems and market specific mechanisms used by the energy industry. Therefore – as a first step – it seems reasonable for the automotive industry to consistently prepare future vehicle generations to offer connected charging services. The EV itself and its ability to integrate into the energy system must be of the highest strategic importance to the OEM. Other competencies, like sound energy industry skills, are second-rate. This rapidly changing landscape is the reason why this thesis is looking for a technical basis that is capable of shaping this transformation. The modular multilevel battery (M2B), which is based on widely researched multilevel technology, seems to be a promising approach. Through restructuring of current static battery architecture and further integration of battery storage and power electronics the groundwork can be laid for new concepts in charging and powertrain architecture for electrical vehicles. A novel modular multilevel parallel converter-based split battery system for electric vehicles, enabling dynamic switching of battery cells in parallel and in series is presented. Each individual battery cell may be interconnected to its neighbors according to operational needs, e.g. to provide optimum source resistance, lowest state-of-charge (SOC) cycling, and balanced aging, rendering separate battery management systems (BMS) unnecessary. Applying the proposed technology in EVs may fundamentally change existing powertrain architectures and charger topologies, as it merges the battery storage system and the power converter. This forms the basis for a highly integrated power electronics unit that includes traction converter, battery charger, and BMS. Higher system efficiency, inherent bi-directional fast charging capability and interoperability with different charging modes are included. These technological advantages as well as the M2B’s contribution to the energy system can justify employing this technology, even though it is more complex than the current state of the art.     «

Electromobility is increasingly calling existing business models into question. New interfaces such as to the energy industry are developing and need to be designed efficiently for the success of the technology. Therefore the product ‘mobility’, together with its service components, must be re-examined, because, as of today, there is no consistent concept for integrating fleets of electric vehicles (EVs) into the energy supply system – neither economically nor technically. Smart products and ser...     »