Singapore to house new research into future mobility

Singapore looks set to become a new hub for research into future mobility. After the establishment of the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre and the founding of a new Volvo tech hub, Volkswagen and Continental are now partnering with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to develop smart energy management systems to optimise electric vehicle charging.

The three organisations will assess the potential advantages of dynamic pricing models in mitigating carbon emissions and reducing the stress on existing power systems, and will also be exploring how technology can be employed to encourage electric vehicle charging during conventional off-peak hours or when renewable energy supply is abundant.

NTU and CEA will be collaborating on research to improve the circularity of printed circuit boards in vehicles which will reduce the electronic waste that cars produce

On top of this, NTU and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) will also be collaborating on research to improve the circularity of printed circuit boards in vehicles.

Research will be conducted on methods including the use of new eco-designs to facilitate used circuit board disassembly and automated sorting of components with intelligent solutions such as machine learning. The partnership will also strive to produce guidelines on vehicle design, ensuring that sustainability is prioritised and built into the end-to-end process of future vehicle manufacturing.

A third collaboration, between NTU and urban sustainable energy solutions developer Pylon City will also be developing a station-based, demand responsive charge scheduling algorithm to reduce battery degradation while maintaining the service-level for electric vehicle fleets.

As part of this collaboration, two electric vehicle charging stations for commercial use will be built at Continental Singapore's office for electric vehicle fleet operators. Featuring a solar canopy, energy collected on site will directly contribute to the charging of vehicle batteries, while data collected from the stations will also provide insights to support the joint research project. The charging stations will be operational in the fourth quarter of 2023.