Extreme E cars race in the Arctic, jungle and desert thanks to WAE simulation

Our worlds of work and daytime activities are becoming ever more digital. For engineers, the digital explosion has in the past couple of decades increasingly presented an opportunity. No longer is it always necessary to test the way their creations work under the circumstances they will meet in operation by going to the expense and effort of building a physical model or prototype and putting it through its paces: instead, they can be modelled and simulated in the virtual confines of a computer system.

Exciting advances

There is considerable crossover between the fields of modelling and simulation and thermal management: heat generation by chemical reactions and heat flow through materials all follow well-understood mathematical rules and, moreover, can be tricky to measure in physical models. At Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) – one of the divisions of the Williams Formula 1 organisation concerned with developing motorsport technologies for use in other sectors – principal engineer for thermal simulation Jorge Martinez Lopez says that the past five years have been exciting for simulation engineers, particularly those working with electrified powertrains. 

“We have seen the development of disruptive modelling techniques like Topology Optimization software and Reduced Order Models based on artificial intelligence and machine learning,” he says. “Another relevant advance is the growth of multiphysics tools to study the interaction of the thermal performance of Li-ion batteries, electric motors and power electronics with other disciplines, such as electromagnetism, electrical, fluid dynamics or stress analysis.”

One way in which Lopez’s sector differs from others is that motorsport is heavily circumscribed by the regulations imposed on it by governing bodies so, for example, the batteries used in electric racing series have a strict weight limit, and engineers have to work out how to extract the best possible energy storage and release performance while keeping to those constraints.  

In-house software

“The focus in categories like Formula E, Extreme E, ETCR or LMDh (Le Mans Daytona hybrid) is always on maximising performance.” To meet these goals, WAE uses both commercially available simulation packages and develops its own in-house software. 

When developing the battery for the third-generation Formula E cars (all teams are supplied with the same battery; the gen 3 was introduced in the 2022-23 season), WAE had to reduce the mass by 101kg while increasing output power from 250 to 300kW and adding what Lopez describes as an “incredible” 600kW fast-charge and regenerative braking capability. Formula E races take place all around the world in a variety of weathers, so in developing the battery Lopez’s team had to simulate all the operating conditions it might encounter. 

A newer series, Extreme E, races modified SUVs off-road, and this presented an even bigger challenge. “The battery packs, developed also by WAE, have been designed to withstand extreme environments, conditions and terrains from the Arctic to the jungle and desert, producing a maximum power output of 470kW,” says Lopez. Simulation and modelling allow all these conditions to be created virtually in Oxfordshire at WAE.

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