Reducing fuel consumption through modular vehicle architectures

Irene Carvalho, Thomas Baier, Ricardo Simoes and Arlindo Silva

Applied Energy, 2012, vol. 93, issue C, 556-563

Abstract: By identifying energy waste streams in vehicles fuel consumption and introducing the concept of lean driving systems, a technological gap for reducing fuel consumption was identified. This paper proposes a solution to overcome this gap, through a modular vehicle architecture aligned with driving patterns. It does not address detailed technological solutions; instead it models the potential effects in fuel consumption through a modular concept of a vehicle and quantifies their dependence on vehicle design parameters (manifesting as the vehicle mass) and user behavior parameters (driving patterns manifesting as the use of a modular car in lighter and heavier mode, in urban and highway cycles). Modularity has been functionally applied in automotive industry as manufacture and assembly management strategies; here it is thought as a product development strategy for flexibility in use, driven by environmental concerns and enabled by social behaviors. The authors argue this concept is a step forward in combining technological solutions and social behavior, of which eco-driving is a vivid example, and potentially evolutionary to a lean, more sustainable, driving culture.

Keywords: Lightweighting; Modularity; Fuel economy; Design for flexibility in use; Lean driving systems; Driving patterns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.12.004

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