The future of daily urban commuting could one day be small lightweight Electric L-category Vehicles (ELVs).

These cost-effective, energy-efficient and comfortable alternatives to traditional cars in cities are at the heart of the European RESOLVE (Range of Electric Solutions for L-category Vehicles) project, which unveiled two tilting four-wheeler prototype ELVs at an event in Brussels in April.

WMG at the University of Warwick was one of 14 partners in the project, who devised two ELVs with common powertrain sub-systems and innovations such as a new battery sub-system, plus smart range management software developed by WMG, which led on the design and verification of the energy management and active safety algorithms for both prototypes.

The responsibility of WMG’s David Greenwood and James Marco was to enhance the overall performance, energy efficiency and safety of L-category vehicles through a rigorous programme of research, to optimise the design and integration of the active stability control software with smart range management and regenerative braking algorithms.

Professor Greenwood, a leading expert in energy storage and low-carbon vehicles, said: “L-category vehicles are an under-exploited opportunity in Europe to address energy consumption and pollution in cites.

“Their light weight and their modest range requirements make them ideal for electrification.

“In this project, we were able to investigate the control and stability limits of a fun-to-ride tilting vehicle platform and gain insights that will apply to all-wheel-drive electric cars in the future.”