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KTH Research Concept Vehicle

The KTH Research Concept Vehicle is a rolling research and demonstration laboratory for vehicle research concerning sustainable transport systems. The purpose of the vehicle is to have a platform where research results can be implemented and evaluated in real-life.

The project ”Research Concept Vehicle” aims at realizing a research-based concept vehicle that will be used to validate and demonstrate current and future research results. The design is modular to include research from several disciplines and the design is highly versatile enabling a wide array of different functions to be tested, e.g 2WD, 4WD, 2WS, 4WS, torque vectoring, SBW, etc.

The RCV have been developed at KTH and Integrated Transport Research Lab through a collaborative effort between both researchers and students from multiple Schools and Departments at KTH.

Funding for the RCV is mainly from KTH own funding.

Ongoing research with the RCV

There are a number of research projects carried out at KTH that are using and have used the RCV, below some examples:

Functions RCV

  • Fully computerized drive-by-wire technology
  • All electric drive with 4 in-wheel electric motors
  • Active electric individual steering, camber and traction/braking on each wheel
  • Light-weight design with carbon fibre sandwitch

Functions RCV-E

  • Fully computerized drive-by-wire technology
  • All electric drive with 4 in-wheel electric motors
  • Active electric individual steering and traction/braking on each wheel
  • Light-weight design with carbon fibre sandwitch
  • 5G enables 
  • Designed for full autonomy and remote control

Numbers RCV

  • Weight: 450 kg
  • Drivetrain: 150 Nm (peak)
  • Battry: 52 V 100 Ah LiFeMnPO4
  • Range: 40 min full dynamic driving 
  • Top speed: 70 km/h
  • Steering angle: +- 25 deg
  • Camber angle: + 5 deg, - 15 deg

Numbers RCV-E

  • Weight: 800 kg
  • Drivetrain: 450 Nm (peak)
  • Battry: 72 V 100 Ah LiFeMnPO4
  • Range: 120 min full dynamic driving 
  • Top speed: 50 km/h (software limited to 30 km/h)
  • Steering angle: +- 30 deg

Documents

Presentation: "Research Concept Vehicle (RCV) - Research platform for future vehicle concepts" (pdf 1.9 MB)