This article summarises the experimental testing campaign performed at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) on the demonstrator battery electric vehicle (BEV) of the European Union Horizon 2020 research project QUIET. The project, launched in October 2017, aimed at developing an improved and energy-efficient electric vehicle with increased driving range under real-world driving conditions, focusing on three areas: improved energy management, lightweight materials with enhanced thermal insulation properties, and improved safety and comfort. A heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) system based on the refrigerant R290 (propane), a phase change material (PCM) thermal storage system, infrared heating panels in the near field of the passengers, lightweight materials for seat internal structures, and composite vehicle doors with a novel atomically precise manufacturing (APM) aluminium foam are all the breakthrough technologies installed on the QUIET demonstrator vehicle. All these innovative technologies allow the energetic request for cooling and heating the cabin of the demonstrator vehicle under different driving conditions and the weight of the vehicle components (e.g., doors, windshields, seats, heating, and air conditioning) to be reduced by about 28%, leading to an approximately 26% driving range increase under both hot (40 °C) and cold (−10 °C) weather conditions.

Battery aging of electrified vehicles is a key parameter to be controlled in order to ensure sufficient energy efficiency and driving range across the whole vehicle lifespan. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has recently adopted a new regulatory framework, the Global Technical Regulation No. 22, prescribing minimum performance requirements for in-vehicle battery durability. With the implementation of this new GTR, monitors of the battery state of certified energy and range will be available in every production vehicle, the accuracy of which will be tested statistically by applying an in-use verification procedure (Part A). Once the monitors’ correctness is checked, the battery durability performances are controlled in Part B against the defined limit values by a fleet monitoring procedure. This work presents the results of a testing campaign executed at the Joint Research Centre testing facilities on an aged pure electric vehicle to measure its capacity and range fade. The aim is to explore the applicability of GTR No. 22, assessing the in-vehicle battery performance fade of an aged electric vehicle, illustrating the several steps of the developed regulation and experimental methodology.

This work presents the results of an on-road test campaign on an aged mid-size battery electric vehicle. After a full charge, the vehicle was completely discharged by driving on the road, with different routes (combining speeds and road slopes) and payloads. The resulting driving range and discharged battery energy were measured. The results are compared with those obtained from previous laboratory test campaigns on a chassis dynamometer driving at constant speed or with the standardised testing protocols according to the WLTP. Considerations of the influence of environmental and route conditions on the usable battery energy during the on-road test are made. The new concept of virtual distance related to V2X applications is presented based on the UN GTR No. 22 dealing with in-vehicle battery durability. This is a new concept introduced to account for the additional ageing caused by battery cycling due to applications other than driving or charging.