Industrial Ph.D. student - Electric Driveline Optimization

Let's introduce ourselves

Industrial Ph.D. student - position in Electric Driveline Optimization (ED-OPT)

VIPP PhD program - Electrical Design Engineer

At Volvo Product Creation & Quality (P&Q) you will be a key contributor to the next generation of outstanding luxury BEV vehicles from Volvo Cars. Together with other engineers around the world, you and your team will create innovative human-centric car technology that makes life less complicated and more enjoyable for people. 
 
The Electric Driveline Department now seeks a talent candidate for an industrial Ph.D. position, in co-operation with Högskolan Väst and Uppsala University.

This candidate position will belong to the group called Electromechanical System, dept. 97740, which consist of about 21 engineers in total, of which 6 are Ph.D., and thus we also have a natural and close collaboration with the academia.

Main responsibilities of this group are CAE concept analyses of new electromagnetic system design of E-machines, as well as testing and validating its attribute fulfilment, i.e. efficiency, performance, drive ability, by means of test rigs and vehicles. 

Our vision is to become “Leading in sustainable electrification”. It means to contribute to world class sustainability, energy efficiency, E-machine functionality, customer satisfaction, for all our future products. 

What you'll do

The main goal and question of the research project is to investigate: What is a suitable number of driveline variants in a fleet of BEVs, from the perspectives of cost and environmental impact?

Today all OEMs have a variety of different BEV powertrain systems for different reasons. But what are really the benefits with two drivelines in a vehicle, and how can the drivelines be optimized together? Also, how can an electric driveline be designed to be more robust to fluctuating material costs, how can such uncertainties be considered in the optimization process, and how can machine learning be used for electric driveline optimization?
 
An extensive and comprehensive investigation of the potential benefits with electric driveline optimization, using novel optimization methods, covering the entire span from single vehicle to a vehicle fleet and including several types of electric machines would be a valuable addition to the current knowledge. The use of AI-methods for electric driveline optimization is also largely unexplored. We believe that more can be done related to considering environmental impact and combining different machine types.

Electromagnetic FEM simulations as well as other analyzing methodologies will form an important part of the work. Furthermore, testing opportunities in a test rig and/or a vehicle would always be an enabler in combination with theoretical modelling for the research studies. 

What you'll bring

Qualifications
To be qualified, the applicant must have a master’s degree or equivalent in Electric Power Engineering or Engineering Physics. Experience in FEM software for electromagnetic analysis is a strong advantage. In addition, experimental experience within this field is of significant advantage. Moreover, an advantage is if the candidate has a publication record. 

We are looking for a strongly motivated person, who can work independently, as well as to collaborate and communicate well with associates in the surrounding environment. The assignment as an industrial Ph.D. student is expected to be five years and carried out on site both at Volvo Cars and at Högskolan Väst. Good command of English orally and in writing is required to publish and present results at international conferences and in international journals.

Knowledge of Swedish is an advantage. If the student is not familiar with Swedish, the student is expected to pick up the language within two years. The position also includes academic departmental work up to 10 %, apart from the research task, for instance teaching. It is an ambition to start the Ph.D. activities as soon as possible in spring 2025, but no later than August 2025. 

Application procedure 
The application shall be written in English and include the following items: 

Statement of purpose: Why you want to pursue a PhD, what are your academic interests, how they relate to your previous studies and future goals (maximum one page long).
Full curriculum vitae including your relevant academic, professional, and other experience and knowledge.
Copy of the degree certificate(s) and transcripts of records from your previously attended university-level institutions, with translations in English
 (unless provided so by the issuing institution)
Representative publications or technical reports: Up to 2 documents, no longer than 10 pages each. For longer documents (e.g. thesis), please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.
Letters of recommendation or contact information for two reference persons

The application shall be sent electronically as pdf or zipped documents.