An Innovative and Safe Active Light Weight Design Chassis Concept

Important for an all-electric vehicle, especially when used in an urban area, is still lightweight design. Simple chassis systems for small urban vehicles covering those weight limitations often lack an acceptable drive comfort and driving stability in extreme situations. A new active chassis suspension designed for such an urban car is in development at the DLR Institute for Vehicle Concepts in the founded project Next Generation Car (NGC) Urban Modular Vehicle (UMV). This concept even provides active safety measurements regarding the demanding small overlap crash scenario. The main components are a composite transverse leaf spring, an orbital wheel bearing optional with an integrated electrical drive and an innovative wheel independent two axis steering actuator changing the toe and camber angle. For the realisation of this innovative concept a (partly) automated design and dimensioning process is going to be established.