Conceptual design of an electric vehicle chassis using topology optimization method

Abstract Nowadays, the chassis represents the most important structural part of the vehicle, that has a great influence on the passenger’s safety. Lately, topology optimization represents a vital part of the automotive design process. The chassis design can improve the stability and rigidity of the vehicle for accurate handling. In this paper is presented the conceptual design of an EV (electric vehicle) chassis generated by using the topology optimization method. The introduction of the paper presents the latest method used in automotive optimization and the theoretical aspects. In the second part, the basic chassis structure is modelled using CAD software. The objective of this optimization study is to decrease the mass of the chassis to a minimum, without affecting the mechanical properties. Two optimization cases are studied using the steel and aluminium allow material at different boundary conditions. At the final of this research, all results are compared, and the conclusions are presented.