User:Erik.wilhelm

Erik Wilhelm earned his PhD from the ETH Zurich with Technology Assessment group at PSI. The focus of his dissertation was on advanced powertrain simulation and heuristic vehicle design. The results of this research are applied for policy analysis using multi-criteria analysis. Selected recent and current project involvements The “Transition to Hydrogen Based Transportation – Challenges and Opportunities” project was a collaboration with MIT’s Sloan Automotive Laboratory. It was a multi-faceted project which explored opportunities for fuel savings and pollution reduction in the transportation sector. A strong emphasis was placed on analyzing technology choices that can drive the transition to a hydrogen transportation system. Erik was responsible for assessing the tank-to-wheel energy use for a broad mix of transportation technologies within the project framework.

His publications and research interests include renewable hydrogen production, hardware in the loop simulation, fundamental to system-level vehicle modeling. Recent publications:

Wilhelm, E., Fowler, M., Fraser, R., Stevens, M. “In-the-loop Validation of Fuel Cell Vehicle Control” International Journal of Powertrains, Article In Press, 2011

Wilhelm E., Schenler, W. “Heuristic Design of Advanced Drives Analysis of Trade-offs in Powertrain Electrification” World Electric Vehicle Association Journal, Volume 3, 2009. ISSN 2032-6653

Wilhelm, E., Fowler, M. “A Technical and Economic Review of Solar Hydrogen Production Technologies”. Bulletin of Science Technology and Society. Vol. 26, No. 1, 2006. 278-287.

Main research interests and engagements

Erik’s primary focus is advanced vehicle technology. Experience modeling and simulating specific powertrain architectures is being expanded in the work done at PSI to answer broader questions in vehicle design. Multi-criteria decision analyses, as well as automated heuristic vehicle design are his primary research areas. He also examines methods for correlating real-world driving to standard schedules used to evaluate vehicle performance in order to ensure maximum accuracy of reported fuel economy and emissions characteristics with the start-up which he co-founded (VirVe). Besides his vehicle technology work, Erik maintains a strong interest in primary energy storage technology, and is using model-based design techniques to evaluate the thermodynamics of solar reactors.

Education and previous activities

Erik received his BASc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2005, and his MASc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2007. His thesis was written on “Model-based validation of Fuel Cell Hybrid Control Systems” for which he combined the practical experience of leading the design and construction of a fuel cell hybrid vehicle with the theoretical simulation required for model-based control validation. Erik is a scholar of the Deutsche Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and recipient of concurrent awards from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. He has spent time studying at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg.