With the climate emergency high on the global agenda, and many nations planning to prohibit the sale of new diesel and petrol cars within the next two decades, there is an urgent need for progress towards cleaner transport systems – in particular, electrified systems.
Research by the University of Southampton’s Centre of Excellence for Re-engineering for Electric Mobility (RE4EM) is accelerating the pace of change through advances in energy storage technology, the development of digital tribology to optimise electric vehicle (EV) components, the redesign of human–machine interfaces and a systems approach to infrastructure planning.
RE4EM’s approach involves re-engineering existing infrastructure and vehicles to deliver a more sustainable, interconnected transport system, with a focus on road transport as well as the transition to electric rail, air and sea transport systems.
Re-engineering for electric mobility is about accelerating the transition towards clean transportation through advances in energy storage technologies, digital engineering, user-centred design and strategic infrastructure planning
High-performance electrochemical energy systems, such as batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors, are needed to power the electric vehicles (EVs) of the future. RE4EM is investigating ways to increase the energy storage capacity, durability and safety of these power sources.
Tribology – the science of friction, wear and lubrication of machines’ moving parts – is another key area of RE4EM’s work. Its researchers are developing solutions to face new tribological challenges in EVs and digital tribology techniques, using computer modelling, sensing and machine learning to optimise components and materials for use in future transport systems.
Recognising the socio-technical nature of transport systems, RE4EM’s researchers are also using human factors engineering to redesign the interfaces between people, EVs and the charging infrastructure, to overcome users’ concerns and smooth the path towards uptake of electric transport systems.
RE4EM is uniquely placed to tackle these complex challenges, capitalising on Southampton’s cross-disciplinary research environment and well-recognised expertise in areas such as infrastructure capacity and demand modelling, human factors engineering, electrochemical engineering, tribology and surface engineering, smart sensing, data analytics and machine learning.
Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) - Industrialisation Centres (IC) programme