Hansjörg Kapeller received the Dipl.-Ing. Degree in electrical engineering from Vienna University of Technology. He is a research engineer in the field of electric drives at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
What was your original motivation to become a researcher/project manager?
I have always been interested in science and technology and I like finding solutions to problems. As a researcher, I can contribute to the increasing environmental awareness of today’s society and the systemic changes currently taking place in the search for environmentally friendly mobility solutions. XL-CONNECT offers me the opportunity to create new knowledge and to contribute to solutions, for example for the establishment of intelligent charging technologies, as the increasing number of electric vehicles represents a major challenge for the energy system in Europe.
What is your (main) research area today?
My field of work includes modelling, simulation and control of electric drives and electric vehicles (including all sub-components, HVAC systems etc.) as well as the coordination of international and national research projects. Currently I am also managing AIT’s commercial simulation libraries developed at the Competence Unit Electric Vehicle Technologies.
What is the main focus of your team in XL-CONNECT?
AIT is responsible creating an updated requirement overview for advanced charging concepts (V2X). The gained insights provide a profound basis for all other active work packages within XL-CONNECT.
Furthermore, our team develops a physics-orientated 1D model of an electric vehicle (EV) which considers all driving resistances of the vehicle, an electro-thermal battery model as well as a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system model enabling preheating and investigating various driving cycles under different ambient conditions. Beside the simulation of the electric vehicle behaviour during a trip the EV model also enables investigating various V2X scenarios to simulate occurring battery degradation effects (e.g., the influence of V2X on the cyclic aging of a battery).
All battery degradation mechanisms and the main stress factors of different cell chemistries are validated by performing extensive characterization tests at AIT.
From all your activities within the project, what are you the most proud of/keen to share with the public?
That we will develop innovate charging concepts and technologies to create affordable, user-friendly, smart and bidirectional charging solutions for V2X that consider quantity and quality of driver’s needs, i.e., to minimize range anxiety and to maximise drivers’ satisfaction.
How do you expect the XL-CONNECT results will impact your organisation?
The XL-CONNECT offers the possibility to AIT to contribute to the technological, transfer from research to industry, exploitation of the know-how for new projects, consulting, and training.
