Evaluation of a 2-speed transmission on electric vehicle's energy consumption

In order to explore the impact of transmission use on the energy/fuel consumption of zero emission vehicles, a 2-speed gearbox was developed and tested. The gearbox is installed on a hydrogen fuel cell powered urban vehicle, the ER14, a prototype designed by the TUC Eco Racing team at the Technical University of Crete. In this work the ER14 is used as a testbed vehicle so as to measure and evaluate fuel consumption with and without gear changing. Actual road tests were conducted and experimental results are presented, showing reduction of electric vehicle energy consumption with the use of the gearbox.