Simulated and real world tests to compare drivers performance in dynamic wireless technology perspective

Abstract

The ongoing electrification of road vehicles needs to be supported by proper growth of charging infrastructure. In this context, dynamic wireless charging can provide a number of advantages, main being the possibility to extend vehicle range without increasing on board battery capacity, potentially reducing cost, mass, and tank-to-wheel energy consumption. The development of such solutions however poses various questions, including the acceptance and the capability of users in driving according to infrastructure characteristics; in particular, the misalignment reduction while a driver follows a straight path positively influence the charging efficiency in dynamic wireless technology. In this paper, authors describe a tests campaign to determine driving performances using both a simulator and a real world equipped vehicle. The research question of this paper is to assess and quantify differences between the two approaches. To reach this objective, in a first phase, data have been collected through a driving simulator (i.e. a full car body mounted on a parallel linked kinematics with a large screen, proposing a virtual city scenario), and in a second phase through a car equipped with a camera. As a post processing phase, statistical tools have been used to describe driving performance indexes and related impacts on wireless charging infrastructure by determining the secondary voltage on the vehicle. Data coming from the activity will be functional to be used by scenario analyst to develop characterization tests only with a simulative approach to decrease costs.