One of the biggest social and environmental challenges of our time and the future is the mobility of people and goods. Transport is responsible for 15% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Society needs to find solutions for this if we want to meet the targets of the Paris Climate accord.

Sustainable mobility is the ability to meet the needs of society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacrificing essential human or ecological values today or in the future (World Business Council for Sustainable Development).

This seminar will cover the challenges related to sustainable mobility as well as present and future research on road vehicle designs. In addition, it will cover the impact on education and society.

In the design of road vehicles, one often starts with a number of mono-disciplines like vehicle aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and the drive train design. Also, the energy carrier to be used is of prime importance in the design. Will battery powered cars be the future? Or might hydrogen offer more advantages? Or will we continue to use liquid fuels like (bio)fuels?

In the end, all disciplines have to come together in the best overall design. Thereby not only the vehicle is of importance but it has to be assessed at system level. For instance, the availability of the energy carrier (electricity, hydrogen, biofuel) might become a decisive factor. This is a decision-making process that often has an iterative nature. In the seminar the speaker will discuss a number of examples.