Today, there are many recent developments that focus on improving the electric vehicles and their components, particularly regarding advances in batteries, energy management systems, autonomous features and charging infrastructure. This plays an important role in developing next electric vehicle generations, and encourages more efficient and sustainable eco-system. This paper not only provides insights in the latest knowledge and developments of electric vehicles (EVs), but also the new promising and novel EV technologies based on scientific facts and figures—which could be from a technological point of view feasible by 2030. In this paper, potential design and modelling tools, such as digital twin with connected Internet-of-Things (IoT), are addressed. Furthermore, the potential technological challenges and research gaps in all EV aspects from hard-core battery material sciences, power electronics and powertrain engineering up to environmental assessments and market considerations are addressed. The paper is based on the knowledge of the 140+ FTE counting multidisciplinary research centre MOBI-VUB, that has a 40-year track record in the field of electric vehicles and e-mobility.

In lighting calculations and simulations, the emission of a light source is conventionally modeled using the far-field luminous intensity distribution. However, the advent of luminaires including large arrays of LEDs with focusing optics creating narrow beams has made the traditional limiting photometric distance to reach far-field conditions less easy to determine. Furthermore, even correct far-field data can lead to erroneous predictions when illuminances are determined on a task surface which is positioned within the near-field region. A near-field representation could overcome these problems, but experimental validation for such LED arrays is lacking. This paper reports on near-field and far-field laboratory experiments using an array of two and five narrow-beam LEDs. A near-field approach makes discussions to determine the far-field photometric distance superfluous and leads to correct illuminances at any location with respect to the array, irrespective of the dimensions of the array and the beam angle of the individual components. Introducing the near-field representation of light sources in lighting design offers more accurate predictions when luminaires based on LED arrays with focusing optics are involved.

To obtain realistic results in lighting simulation software, realistic models of light sources are needed. A near-field model of a light source is accurate, and can be obtained by a near-field goniophotometer. This type of goniophotometer is conventionally equipped with a V(λ)-filter. However, the advent of new light sources with spatial- or angular color variations necessitates the inclusion of spectral information about the source. We demonstrate a method to include spectral information of a light source in ray tracing. We measured the relative angular variation of the spectrum of an OLED using a spectroradiometer mounted on a near-field goniophotometer. Principal component analysis (PCA) is exploited to reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored. Also a photometric ray file of the OLED was obtained. To construct a set of monochromatic ray files, the luminous flux in the original ray file is redistributed over a set of wavelengths and stored in separate ray files. The redistribution depends on the angle of emission and the spectral irradiance measured in that direction. These ray files are then inserted in ray tracing software TracePro. Using the OLED as a test source, the absolute spectral irradiance is calculated at an arbitrary position. The result is validated using a spectroradiometer to obtain the absolute spectral irradiance at that particular point. A good agreement between the simulated and measured absolute spectral irradiance is found. Furthermore, a set of tristimulus ray files is constructed and used in ray tracing software to generate a u′v′-color coordinate distribution on a surface. These values are in agreement with the color coordinate distribution found using the spectral ray files. Whenever spectral or color information is desired at a task area, the proposed method allows for a fast and efficient way to improve the accuracy of simulations using ray tracing.

In today's power grid, a great number of inverter‐based distributed energy resources (DERs) are connected and are mainly designed to supply power without considering the voltage and frequency deviations of the grid. Therefore, distribution system operators (DSOs) are challenged with an increase in grid events because of the random implementation of DERs. Voltage levels can vary beyond predefined limits at the point of connection and are currently not evaluated by DSOs. Summarized here is the development of a simulation model for evaluating the impact of support functions integrated in inverter‐based DERs. The model aims to help grid operators simulate voltage and frequency events and study the impact of DERs to the grid with respect to different settings of integrated support functions. A model is developed in MATLAB/Simulink conforming to European standards and regulations. Grid dynamics can be evaluated by imitating voltage and frequency deviations. Support functions can be either adjusted according to the situation or turned off. Together with adjustable settings according to DSO request, this model offers flexibility and insight in the capabilities of DERs to solve voltage and frequency issues. Case studies show that the model corresponds to expected behaviour and can be used for further development.