News

Friday, 21 January 2022 08:41

Improving the e-Drive NVH performance of your electric vehicle with a digital twin

Written by
Rate this item
(2 votes)

Manufacturers want to reduce the risk of encountering e-drive NVH issues late in the design process. But, optimizing e-drive NVH to create a sound that fits your brand image, is challenging. Where to start? Let’s start here.

Electric vehicle sales are booming

The electric vehicle revolution is well underway. According to BloombergNEF’s recent report, there are currently around 12 million passenger electric vehicles and around one million commercial electric vehicles on the road globally. And this is expected to surge. The growth of passenger electric vehicles is projected to rise from 3.1 million in 2020 to 14 million in 2025.

But as demand grows, and many markets move towards ending the sale of combustion engine vehicles, expectations are increasing too.

Fig.1EVO global EV fleet by segment and market

 

What’s that noise?

As you might know, at Simcenter, we adopt a people-centric approach to the NVH performance engineering of electric cars. When engineering the electric drive, a common complaint is the high-frequency tonal noise of the electric motor and gearbox.

To satisfy their customers, manufacturers need to address these E-Drive NVH issues to give the best results in terms of performance, customer comfort, and satisfaction.

Simple, right?

Not really, given the complexity of the motors and the number of different models that are produced every year. NVH performance analysis has often been left to the end of vehicle development. This makes it difficult to make significant design changes to improve the sounds generated. That’s understandable, given that you need a completed motor to evaluate its NVH performance. But that’s not what customers want, they just want their cars to sound better.

E-Drive NVH hybrid modeling – simulations and testing in perfect harmony

Simulation for success

This is why virtual simulations are so valuable in modern vehicle development. It is exactly the kind of challenge that Simcenter was designed to overcome. Alessandro Lepore, Business Development Manager for Simcenter Engineering Services Solutions recently ran a webinar to show how Simcenter can front-load NVH evaluation in the development cycle to allow manufacturers to build a better product whilst keeping within their cost and time budgets.

Watch the on-demand webinar
and see how Simcenter is a game-changer in E-Drive NVH performance

In the webinar, Alessandro looks at how carrying out e-drive NVH analysis in the earliest stages will avoid issues later. He walks through various customer case studies, including:

  • Vehicle reverse engineering for competitor e-motor benchmarking
  • Inverter switching noise optimization
  • E-drive multi-attribute balancing

He also covers the detailed design stages and how 3D simulation analyzes the complete system from electric currents to radiated noise, and integrating electromagnetic, structural, transmission multi-body, and acoustics analysis. This includes examples from Valeo and Karma Automotive where the Simcenter portfolio enabled enhanced and streamlined NVH performance evaluation in the development process to give them the best possible results.

  

Model the complexity of electric motor transmissions by streamlining all types of analyses into a single simulation environment for a better assessment of E-motor transmission performance.

 

Virtual prototype assembly tool helps predicting e-drive NVH performance

But, as Alessandro points out, simulation on its own isn’t everything. Hybrid modeling, combining test and simulation, delivers the most accuracy. He explains how the Virtual Prototype Assembly tool within Simcenter Testlab facilitates this and allows engineers to develop optimal components. The value of the Virtual Prototype Assembly tool? In a nutshell, it enables to accurately and rapidly predict the NVH performance of any system. It allows collaboration between different areas of the business. Even non-NVH experts can use it to accurately predict the final product NVH performance at any development stage. For more information, read this blog: Master the vehicle NVH performance with a virtual prototype.

 

 

 System NVH performance prediction enables to accurately and rapidly predict the NVH performance of any system.

Read 203720 times Last modified on Wednesday, 09 February 2022 15:18

17262 comments

  • Comment Link silveroakcorner Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:53 posted by silveroakcorner

    Probably this is one of the better quiet successes on the open web at the moment, and a look at silveroakcorner reinforced that quiet success quality, sites that are doing well without making a noise about doing well are the sites I most respect and this one has clearly chosen the quiet success path consistently throughout.

  • Comment Link Rickybok Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:46 posted by Rickybok

    Honest take is that this was better than I expected when I clicked through, and a look at leadimpact reinforced that, the bar for online content has dropped so much that finding something thoughtful and well constructed feels almost noteworthy now which says more about the average than about this site itself.

  • Comment Link globalgoodszone Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:45 posted by globalgoodszone

    The clarity here is something I really appreciate, especially compared to sites that pile on jargon for no reason, and a look at globalgoodszone was the same, simple direct sentences that actually deliver information instead of dancing around the point for paragraphs at a time which wastes reader patience.

  • Comment Link goldenpickzone Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:41 posted by goldenpickzone

    Decided to write a short note to the author if there is contact info anywhere, and a stop at goldenpickzone extended that intention, the urge to thank the writer directly is a strong signal of content quality and this site has triggered that urge in me today which is a fairly rare event for my reading.

  • Comment Link velvetoakcollective Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:39 posted by velvetoakcollective

    Found the use of subheadings really helpful for scanning back through the post later, and a stop at velvetoakcollective kept that reader friendly approach going, navigation is something many blog writers ignore but small structural choices make a noticeable difference for someone returning to find a specific point again days or weeks later.

  • Comment Link Barryenumb Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:20 posted by Barryenumb

    Reading this confirmed that my time researching the topic in other places had not been wasted, and a stop at rankprism extended the confirmation, when independent sources agree that is a useful signal and this site is one of the more reliable sources I have found for cross checking what I read elsewhere on similar subjects.

  • Comment Link techpackterra Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:20 posted by techpackterra

    Reading this on a phone at a coffee shop and finding it perfectly suited to that context, and a stop at techpackterra continued the comfortable mobile experience, content that works across reading conditions without compromising on substance is increasingly important and this site has clearly thought about the whole reader experience here.

  • Comment Link urbanpetalcollective Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:17 posted by urbanpetalcollective

    A piece that prompted a small mental rearrangement of how I order related ideas, and a look at urbanpetalcollective extended that rearranging effect, content that affects the structure of my thinking rather than just adding to it is content with the deepest kind of impact and this site is reaching that depth for me today.

  • Comment Link qualitytrendstation Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:17 posted by qualitytrendstation

    My reading list is short and selective and this site is now on it, and a stop at qualitytrendstation confirmed the placement, the short list of sites I read deliberately rather than encounter accidentally is something I curate carefully and adding to it is a real act of trust which this site has earned today.

  • Comment Link silveroakcorner Sunday, 17 May 2026 17:10 posted by silveroakcorner

    Generally my comment to other readers about new sites is to wait and see but for this one I would jump to recommend now, and a look at silveroakcorner reinforced that early recommendation, the speed at which a site earns my recommendation is itself a quality signal and this one has earned mine quickly clearly.

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.