Introduction

As global warming is becoming a reality and transportation emissions affect public health in a visible way, while conventional fossil-fuelled vehicles face major difficulties in reducing their environmental impact, electric and electrified transportation appears as the only sustainable alternative to preserve the environment and support mobility needs. The switch of a major part of the mobility from conventional transportation to electric is already a major challenge for the automotive industry. However, it also a major market and employment opportunity for all the supply chain. Crucial for the future mass deployment of EVs that guarantee the continued mobility of persons and goods at minimum energy investment and emissions, is to combine vehicles affordability, industrial capacity, real operation performances and durability. State-of-the-art EVs are not reaching these targets today due to limited technical maturity and constrained investment for decades (except some new actors like TESLA). Thus, leading to conventional electric powertrain design approaches and limited industrial skills and means, including testing and simulation. However, research and development of EVs at industrial scale is required to bring to the market in short period new mass-production compliant vehicles, implementing new components and architectures for higher operation efficiency. Todays’ combined lack of investment and skills with the fast-changing automotive landscape and market opportunities stress the electric vehicle development to deliver faster more efficient vehicle designs considering the components modularity enabling mass production and contributing to higher affordability.