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One of the biggest barriers towards large scale adoption of electric and plug-in hybrid cars is still range limitation due to limited storage capacity of electric batteries. The air conditioning system for passenger comfort and the thermal conditioning system (battery and powertrain) are main auxiliary consumers in EVs with respect to energy consumption. Therefore, the Horizon 2020 project "OPTEMUS" proposes to tackle this bottleneck by leveraging low energy consumption and energy harvesting through a holistic vehicle-occupantcentred approach. This manuscript presents the approach of the project and first simulation results of the air conditioning system including a heat pump. This system is capable of using the ambient air or a preconditioned battery as heat source.

Due to slipstream effects, platooning leads to a significant decrease of the fuel consumption of the heavy-duty vehicles (HDV). Measurements with a platoon consisting of three vehicles were performed at the Zalazone proving ground. The goal of these measurements was to get the static pressure at the front and the rear of the second vehicle to calibrate computational fluid dynamics simulation and to measure the fuel consumption directly. Measurements were done at a vehicle speed of 80 km/h and varying inter-vehicle distances. Platooning leads to a reduction of the pressure coefficients in the centre of the HDV front and an increase of the pressure coefficient at the top and the rear of the HDV. Furthermore, a reduction of the fuel consumption of the leading vehicle of 7.9% at an inter-vehicle distance of 6 m and 3.7% at a distance of 22 m was determined. A comparison to CFD simulation showed a similar fuel reduction for an inter-vehicle distance of 6 m and 22 m. CFD simulation showed an increase of fuel consumption at an inter-vehicle distance of 15 m. This increase was experimentally not validated. Also, results for the following vehicle are presented.

This chapter deals with the interaction of platooning-capable trucks and their powertrain systems. In a first step, prospective propulsion systems and their characteristics for platooning are discussed. Therefore, different topologies are analysed, also in terms of the intended use cases. These considerations are made mainly according to CO$$_{2}$$ 2 -limitation efforts in the background. Secondly, thermal management regarding platooning is in the focus. Investigations on the influence of the air mass flow for an internal combustion engine (ICE) operated truck are presented. Further, thermal management challenges in combination with a fuel cell operated truck are discussed. For this purpose, dedicated solutions and methods in development are presented. Finally, essential future research fields are outlined.