InMotion: Hybrid race car, beating F1 at LeMans

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a hybrid electric powertrain for the InMotion IM01 race car. InMotion is a multidisciplinary project group of experienced master students, PhD students, and professors from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The authors of this paper were involved in the project to develop a suitable powertrain architecture for use in the IM01 series hybrid race car. The most important requirements were to achieve a lap time of below 2 min 45 s on the Circuit de la Sarthe, and to have a durability, efficiency, cornering speed, and acceleration that exceeds Formula 1 race cars. Data provided from InMotion included design restrictions, a simplified drive cycle, and technical data of some components. This data was analyzed and the required powertrain component sizes were determined. A detailed drive cycle calculation and sensitivity analysis were introduced to find the variables that significantly influence the lap time. The powertrain was modeled using the backwards approach and an energy management strategy was designed with the objective of minimizing fuel consumption. Finally, five different powertrain configurations were presented, and several tradeoffs between lap time and different parameters were discussed. The results showed that the fastest achievable lap time using the proposed configurations was 3 min 9 s. It was concluded that several car and component parameters have to be improved to decrease this lap time to the required 2 min 45 s. Recommendations for future work to achieve this were addressed.