Ricardo wins competitions to develop electric trucks

The Shoreham-based consultancy will partner with Bath University to deliver the projects.

In the first project, Ricardo will be investigating the efficacy of integrating power electronics – a modular, series-connectable inverter and charger – into a battery pack and understanding whether this approach can help to reduce the total cost of ownership.

UK firm Tevva unveils mass production electric truck

The project, funded by the Faraday Battery Challenge and supported by Innovate UK, expects to deliver efficiency improvements and reduce the powertrain mass, leading to savings of around £1,000 per vehicle. According to Ricardo, this will help to accelerate the wider-scale adoption of electrified commercial vehicles.

For the second project, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered by Innovate UK, Ricardo is developing technologies for future higher voltage (1400V) electric trucks to enable greater efficiency and faster charging.

This includes the development of a modular battery pack, advanced power electronics and an electrified drive unit optimised for high voltage use. The benefits of these technologies will be assessed through the development and use of advanced desktop tools, which Ricardo said will help it in ‘optimising the technology configuration and control while focusing on minimising total cost of ownership’.