For the last century the automotive industry has been dominated by internal combustion
engines. Their flexibility of application driving range performance and sporty
characteristics has resulted in several generations of this technology and has formed
generations of engineers. But that is not the end of the story. Stricter legislation and
increased environmental awareness have resulted in the development of new powertrain
technologies in addition and parallel to the highly optimized internal combustion engine.
Hybrid powertrains systems pure battery electric systems and fuel cell systems in conjunction
with a diverse range of applications have increased the spectrum of powertrain technologies.
Furthermore automated driving together with intelligent and highly connected systems are
changing the way to get from A to B. Not only is the interaction of all these new technologies
challenging but also several different disciplines have to collaborate intensively in order
for new powertrain systems to be successfully developed. These new technologies and the
resulting challenges lead to an increase in system complexity. Approaches such as systems
engineering are necessary to manage this complexity. To show how systems engineering manages
the increasing complexity of modern powertrain systems by providing processes methods
organizational aspects and tools this book has been structured into five parts. Starting with
Challenges for Powertrain Development which describes automotive-related challenges at
different levels of the system hierarchy and from different point of views. The book then
continues with the core part Systems Engineering in which all the basics of systems
engineering model-based systems engineering and their related processes methods tools and
organizational matters are described. A special focus is placed on important standards and the
human factor. The third part Automotive Powertrain Systems Engineering Approach puts the
fundamentals of systems engineering into practice by adding the automotive context. This part
focuses on system development and also considers the interactions to hardware and software
development. Several approaches and methods are presented based on systems engineering
philosophy. Part four Powertrain Development Case Studies adds the practical point of view by
providing a range of case studies on powertrain system level and on powertrain element level
and discusses the development of hybrid powertrain internal combustion engines e-drives
transmissions batteries and fuel cell systems. Two case studies on a vehicle level are also
presented. The final part Outlook considers the development of systems engineering itself
with particular focus on information communication technologies. Even though this book covers
systems engineering from an automotive perspective many of the challenges fundamental
principles conclusions and outlooks can be applied to other domains too. Therefore this book
is not only relevant for automotive engineers and students but also for specialists in
scientific and industrial positions in other domains and anyone who has to cope with the
challenge of successfully developing complex systems with a large number of collaborating
disciplines.
