Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2005--Aachen.

Interest in electric vehicles (EVs) has increased rapidly over recent years from both industrial and academic viewpoints due to increasing concerns about environmental pollution and global oil usage. In the automotive sector, huge efforts have been invested in vehicle technology to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions with, for example, electric vehicles. Nowadays, the safety and handling of electric vehicles present new tasks for vehicle dynamics engineers due to the changes in weight distribution and vehicle architecture. This thesis focuses on one design area of the electric vehicle – torque vectoring control – with the aim of investigating the potential benefits of improved vehicle dynamics and handling for EVs. A full electric racing car kit developed by Westfield Sportcars based on an in-line motors design has been modelled in ADAMS with typical subsystems, and then simulated with computer-based kinematic and dynamic analyses. Thus, the characteristics of the suspensions and the natural frequencies of the sprung and unsprung masses were found, so that the model was validated for further simulation and investigation. Different architectures of the EVs, namely the in-line motors and the in-wheel motors, are compared using objective measurements. The objective measurements predicted with kinematics, dynamics and handling analyses confirm that the architecture of the in-line motors provides a superior dynamics performance for ride and driveability. An Optimal Driveline Control Strategy (ODCS) based on the concept of individual wheel control is designed and its performance is compared with the more common driveline used successfully in the past. The research challenge is to investigate the optimisation of the driving torque outputs to control the vehicle and provide the desired vehicle dynamics. The simulation results confirm that active yaw control is indeed achievable. The original aspects of this work include defining the characteristics and linearity of the project vehicle using a novel consideration of yaw rate gain; the design and development the Optimal Driveline Control Strategy (ODCS); the analysis and modelling the ODCS in the vehicle and the comparison of the results with conventional drivelines. The work has demonstrated that valuable performance benefits result from using optimal torque vectoring control for electric vehicle.

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Vi valde att undersöka varför miljöbilspremien infördes, vilka nackdelar respektive fördelar den har, om målen med införandet uppnåtts samt varför den ska slopas i förtid. Förutom detta undersökte vi vilka åtgärder som ska vidtas istället för miljöbilspremien. Därtill försökte vi få svar på vilka insatser som staten har planerat att genomföra för att uppnå de nationella målen gällande koldioxidutsläppsminskningen. Fallstudien baseras på sex intervjuer av personer från både statliga myndigheter och intresseorganisationer: Naturvårdsverket, Naturskyddsföreningen, Gröna Bilister, Motormännen, Miljödepartementet samt Transportstyrelsen. Utifrån vår studie kom vi fram till att miljöbilspremien infördes för att stimulera användningen av bränsle effektiva bilar, miljöbilar, och öka andelen miljöbilar i nybilsförsäljningen. De tydligaste nackdelarna med premien är att den enbart gäller för privatpersoner och dessutom ger den möjlighet till bilister att tanka icke-miljövänligt bränsle. De märkbara fördelarna med miljöbilspremien är att den ger ett konkret svar på vad en miljöbil är och den har stimulerat allmänheten att både involveras och belönas. Anledningen till att den ska slopas i förtid är att den blev för dyr och dessutom har staten uppnått sitt mål med införandet av premien. Miljöbilspremien ersätts med fem års skattebefrielse för miljöbilar. De främsta styrmedlen som staten använder för att reducera koldioxidutsläppen är koldioxidskatten och handeln med utsläppsrätter. Slutligen anser vi att miljöbilspremien är en miljömässigt bra åtgärd men inte ekonomiskt försvarbar. / We chose to examine why the environmental car premium was introduced and what the disadvantages and advantages it has, furthermore if the goals of the premium were achieved, and why the environmental car premium was discontinued. In addition, we examined the actions that will be taken to replace the environmental car premium. Besides this, we tried to get answers to what actions the government has planned to perform to be able to achieve the national objectives in terms of reduction of the carbon dioxide. The case study is based on six qualitative in-depth interviews of stakeholders from both government agencies and associations, the Environmental Protection Agency, Nature Conservation, Green Car, Motor Men, Ministry of Environment and Transport Board. From our study we found that the environmental car premium was introduced to stimulate the use of fuel efficient cars, environmental cars, and increase the proportion of environmental cars in new sales. The primary disadvantages of the premium are that it only applies to individuals and also provides the opportunity for motorists to fill up non-environmentally friendly fuel. The apparent benefits of the environmental car premium is that it gives a definite answer to what a environmental car is, and it has encouraged the public to both involved and rewarded. There are two reasons why the premium was discontinued prematurely: that it was too expensive and that the government considers that they have achieved their objectives with the introduction of the premium. The environmental car premium will be replaced with a five-year tax exemption for environmental cars. The main management control which the government uses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are carbon dioxide taxes and emissions trading. Finally, we believe that the environmental car premium is an environmentally good measure, but not economically defendable.

Yes

Yes / This article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Bradford, an ethnically diverse city situated in the north of England. The sample of over 60 participants mostly comprises males of British Pakistani Muslim heritage but varies in terms other markers of identity such as social class, profession and residential/working locale. The article analyses the cultural value and meaning of cars within a multicultural context and how a consumer object can feed into the processes which refine and embed racialized identities. Small cases studies reveal the concrete and discursive ways through which ideas around identity and ethnicity are transmitted and how, in particular, racialization continues to feature as a live, active and recognisable process in everyday experience.

Severe railcar responses can result from crosslevel and vertical rail inputs. At low speeds rail joint excitation can coincide with the roll natural frequency of a vehicle. At high speeds, dynamic effects can cause high wheel loads and harsh ride for sensitive cargos. Computer simulation of these and other vertical dynamic effects cans assist in design selections of vehicle components and diagnosis of troublesome vehicle responses. Many dynamic models available today lack the complexity to analyze accurately some of the important dynamic effects. In this report a 28-degree-of-freedom railcar model has been developed to analyze the vertical dynamic responses of railcars subjected to random and deterministic track inputs. This model features carbody vertical bending and torsional modes, multiple component trucks and suspensions, and rail irregularity inputs at each of the eight wheels. Simulation results for a 100-ton vehicle operating on harmonic track inputs compare favorably with the AAR Flexible Carbody Model. Other simulations on random track evaluate the influence of auxiliary viscous stabilizers and increased payloads on railcar responses. These simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the computer simulation as a design and analysis tool. / M.S.

No / Love them or hate them, most of us have an opinion about cars. If not the cars themselves, then it’s driver competence and behaviour that can offend us. And then there’s modification: alloy wheels, custom audio systems and bespoke paint jobs. For some, changing the look, feel and sound of a car says something about themselves, but for others, such enhancements signify a lack of taste, or even criminality. In subtle and complex ways, cars transmit and modify our identities behind the wheel. As a symbol of independence and freedom, the car projects status, class, taste and, significantly, embeds racialisation. Using fascinating research from drivers, including first-person accounts as well as exploring hip-hop music and car-related TV shows, Alam unpicks the ways in which identity is rehearsed, enhanced, interpreted.

No / This paper examines the concept of mass customisation from the point of view of the customer. Although the theory of mass customisation has received considerable attention in recent years, the emphasis has been on identifying and classifying the ways in which mass customisation can be implemented efficiently and effectively. There appears to have been no empirical evidence to support the notion that customers are indeed ready for this approach. The aim of this study is to examine how far customers are ¿ready¿ for mass-customised products, using the UK new car market as its basis for analysis. A framework is developed and results presented which suggest that a sizeable section of the market is ready to accept the ¿inconveniences¿ of mass-customised products. However, the main inconvenience of mass customisation is identified as increased price, even for ¿ready¿ customers. It would seem, therefore, that both global standardisation and mass customisation strategies are appropriate in this market.

M.Comm. / Operational management is to plan and control the transformation process that converts the requirements of customers into a product or a service. The non programmed refurbishing of railway wagons at Transwerk (Germiston) is a very difficult task for the operational manager. The number of wagons and what to repair on each wagon, only become known when the wagon arrives at Transwerk. The planning and scheduling of resources like labour, material, facilities, equipment and cash flow are therefor not so easy. To overcome the difficulties of the planning and scheduling of resources, and to refurbish the wagons according to the customer's requirements and satisfaction, it is necessary to have an operational management model or system. This system comprises of functions like aggregate planning, production scheduling, planning for fixed and variable capacities, inventory planning, design of the operational process itself as well as the control of the whole system. All of this must be set in a framework of the company's overall strategy as well as the financial and operational strategies. The first part of this study deals with the heories of operational management. It is important that the operational manager is familiar with the types of decisions to be made and what concepts are available to optimise his decisions. He also needs to know which product positioning strategy and which process positioning strategy to take. In the case of Transwerk a make-to-order product positioning strategy will be used to refurbish the wagons, and a make-to-stock strategy to manufacture the components that are needed to repair the wagons. A job-shop process positioning strategy will be used, because no fixed process flow can be followed to repair the different wagons. In the second part of this study an empirical research was done. The frequency and number of the different types of wagons that were sent to Transwerk, as well as the occurrence of the repair types on the wagons, were researched. Four years (1992 to 1995 book year) of information were used. The number of wagons and when the wagons might come in for repairs in 1996, as well as what types of repairs to do, are forecasted by using quantitative techniques as time series decomposition and weighted moving averages. The forecast or aggregate plan is the starting point of any operational model. Finally the operational model is designed. The model starts with the business- and operational strategies followed by the production plan. The production plan, derived from the forecast, shows the wagons that are expected to be built for the next five years. Transwerk should check the major available resources to assure that the production can be met. After the production plan is authorised by the executive manager the operational manager can do the master schedule. This schedule shows by model level which wagon types are expected to be repaired per day per month. This information also comes from the forecast that was done. Out of the master schedule, the material- and capacity plans can be drawn up. Production can start once the operational manager finds the planning to be correct. It is important that every step in the model is controlled and that the plans are changed if necessary. A well defined operational management model will help Transwerk on the way to be a world class company.