ADEPT: “ADvanced electric powertrain technology” - Virtual and hardware platforms

Alternative energy sources for traditional combustion engines (e.g. fuel cells, solar cells, batteries) in vehicles like motorbikes, cars, trucks, boats, planes will go hand in hand with a massive growth of the application of electric machines inside (`E-propulsion'). For automotive, marine, aerospace and other heavy duty transportation for traveling and transport of goods, the electric motor will replace- or supplement many alternative energy sources and traditional combustion engines. Design of high performance, low cost and clean propulsion systems requires international cooperation of multiple disciplines such as physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and specialisms like control engineering and safety. By cooperation of these disciplines in a structured way, the ADEPT program will provide a virtual research lab community from labs of European universities and industries. To stay on par with the competition there is an urgent need for European academic research communities to work in close cooperation with the European industry. After finishing the ADEPT project, the knowhow and expertise will also be open to other research organizations or industry that are not yet involved. This paper presents a review of trends within powertrain systems-level simulation as the context for the ADEPT program, before detailing the program itself.