Thesis work - Rolling resistance of winter tyres in cold ambient conditions

About this opportunity - Background

For a battery electric vehicle, tyre rolling resistance (RR) can be the largest energy consumer in winter conditions. Since a significant fraction of Volvo Cars customers live in Nordic markets where winter tyres are used during half of the year, it is important to build knowledge about winter tyre rolling resistance in the relevant temperature span, i.e. winter conditions. 
In the EU the RR of passenger car tyres is determined according to the ISO 28580 standard, which forms the basis for consumer information in terms of tyre energy efficiency labelling. It is also a key evaluation parameter for car manufacturers to assess the expected vehicle-level energy efficiency in the development of new vehicle models.
The ISO standard defines RR in 25⁰C ambient temperature – an operating condition much warmer than the relevant or even recommended temperature operating region for winter tyres. It is therefore of interest to understand how well the ISO values correlates with actual RR for winter tyres in more realistic operating conditions. This could be used to guide tyre development but also to enable improved prediction of range and energy consumption in cold conditions supporting customers in better planning their driving and charging events.

Scope of the thesis work

In the proposed project students will conduct complete-vehicle force measurements in our climatic wind-tunnel, comparing winter tyres and summer tyres in both cold and warm ambient conditions. Furthermore, a correlation study connecting the obtained complete-vehicle measurements to tyre-level ISO conditions (which can be done in our ISO-28580-conforming tyre lab) would enable a complete chain from certified ISO-RR to the corresponding expected performance in realistic winter conditions.

What you'll bring

We are looking for 1-2 master students with a background in automotive engineering, mechanical engineering, or similar fields. You need to be able to work independently under guidance, taking responsibility for planning your work, conducting the experiments (with support from our experienced lab operators), and developing code to analyse the data using rigorous statistical methods. The central delivery of the project will be the final report, so writing skills and a dedication to clearly present the results are of highest importance.

Duration

•    The work will start in January 2026
•    The duration for this thesis work is 20 weeks.
•    30 ECTS (Master academic credits) if in agreement with your Thesis Advisor in University
•    This thesis is to be conducted by 1 Student or 2 Students working in pair.