Green Mobility

Challenges

Road mobility accounts for around 28% of global energy consumption and approximately 22% of global CO2 emissions (Abergel, Dean, & Dulac, 2017). The road transport in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi generates 12 million tonnes CO2eq./year emissions, accounting for approximately 63% of the total transport sector-related GHG emissions (Hill et al., 2012; SCAD, 2014). The UAE Energy Plan 2050 targets this by aiming to cut CO2 emissions by 70% and increase clean energy use by 50%, which will also result in Dh700 billion in savings (Graves & Subaihi, 2017). Contrary to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) carry considerably low environmental impact. Given that, the optimal charging, grid loss and battery efficiency related to traffic operating conditions, particularly with changing vehicle dynamics, autonomous driving, atmospheric and temporal fluctuations, still require research. The experts in the Green Mobility research group specifically aim to address these issues by developing optimised control algorithms for charging/discharging of PHEVs and EVs using artificial neural network and particle swarm optimisation models, heuristic models for battery efficiency using optimisation algorithms to minimise circuit power loss, voltage deviation and line loading.

Aim

The goal is to develop reliable and sustainable energy sources, battery efficiency and charging station management, planning and optimisation models considering photovoltaic generation, fuel cell energy membrane and vehicle-to-grid technologies that can optimise the operation of green (less adverse environmental effects) mobility options such as EVs, PHEVs etc.

Expected Outcomes

Develop performance optimisation, power system distribution automation and management control models that can be used for real time smart charging, energy management and operation of EVs and PHEVs. A potential advanced model predictive control with the capability to find an optimal solution based on speed profile, energy recovery, vehicle dynamics and other constraints.

Research Programs

Some of the overarching research programs under this group are as follows:

• Electric vehicles: driving assistance systems for electric vehicles (EVs), drive-by-wire technologies, improving ergonomic factors for EVs, lighter electro-mechanical systems.
• Optimisation of charging stations: fast charging stations and vehicle-to-grid technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, binary lightning search algorithm for optimal placement of EV charging stations, planning of fast charging stations according to grid loss, battery state and traffic conditions.
• Battery efficiency: terrain information battery management, energy regenerative EVs, energy recovery, fuel cut-off strategies, heuristic models for battery condition prediction.
• Carbon footprint: regenerative breaking, fuel demand reduction, fuel-efficient driving, proton exchange membrane fuel cells performance optimisation models, renewable energy systems.