About Mechatronic Vehicle Systems Laboratory

Cars in the lab

New challenges in the automotive industry

Canada, among other countries, is under intense pressure to reduce vehicle emissions and improve fuel economy. This has led to much stricter emission standards for vehicles and in turn has initiated the need for a new generation automobiles with greatly increased fuel economy. Some new standards have already been introduced in Canada, U.S.A., and Europe. These emerging requirements, along with growing public awareness of environmental issues, have imposed huge pressures on the automotive industry to develop a new generation of automobiles with improved efficiency that can meet the higher standards without any significant cost increase.

Vehicle electrification is the most promising road transportation solution to these new standards. However, electrification of vehicle systems presents difficult challenges that cannot be resolved using only the established conventional vehicle technologies.

These challenges are related specifically to:

Powertrains
Chassis design and layout
Multidisciplinary power management and optimization
System integration
Vehicle dynamics and stability

Addressing these challenges

Mechatronic Vehicle Systems Laboratory is tasked with addressing these challenges along with other challenges related to various control systems such as traction control, vehicle stability control, and controlled suspension will aid the development of technologies that will enable the production of next-generation electric vehicle systems while satisfying high demands on vehicle dynamic performance, active safety, and environmental sustainability.

Part of these novel technologies would also be applicable to other types of vehicles, such as: