NTU has been awarded an EU funded sustainable energy project on 3.5 mill. EUR

NTU has been awarded the EU funded project sustainable energy project AMBER-ULV. Under the theme - Future Light Urban Electric Vehicles, the project will have high impact on the utilization of sustainable energy in the transport sector and will have a total budget of 3.5 million €. Ultra-Light Vehicles (ULV) intrinsically have a better efficiency due to their improved transport capability per vehicle mass. Additionally improved driving dynamics performance can more easily be achieved, because of the reduced mass. However, the design of ULV sharing the same road with heavier cars represents a complex technical challenge for achieving acceptable safety levels. Consumers buy a new vehicle because of many and diverse reasons, including purchase price (one of the main concerns of the majority of buyers when approaching to purchase a new vehicle), depreciation rate, styling, performance and handling, brand preference and social image. However, car owners tend to underestimate the costs of running a vehicle. Although they are very well aware of fuel costs, road tax and insurance, they do not always account for servicing, repair and cost of depreciation. Therefore, if one is interested in comparing the cost of EV with other competing vehicle technologies the parameter of interest should be the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). NTU will via the project AMBER-ULV aim to develop and integrate several innovative concepts, resulting from successfully completed R&D projects and innovative business models for Ultra-Light Vehicles, thus giving a socially acceptable answer to business and safety concerns, while not penalizing the driving experience.