Assessing Magnetic Fields in Electrified Vehicles: An Exploratory Campaign

Electrification is considered one of the key options to achieve a significant level of decarbonization of the road transport system. In particular, hybrid and electric passenger cars are seen as a concrete and already available solution to reduce CO2 and pollutant emissions from vehicles. However, new vehicle concepts pose new challenges in terms of procedures and methodologies for their type of approval. Current environment and safety-related regulations have been developed primarily for conventional vehicles and some aspects related to electrified vehicles have not been fully addressed yet. The possibility for drivers or passengers of getting exposed to significant magnetic fields, generated by high currents flowing in the car during driving or recharging operation is one of the real and potential issues currently under discussion and investigation. This paper describes the methodology applied and the results obtained in an experimental program carried out at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in collaboration with the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). This pre-normative research activity was aimed at acquiring knowledge and generating data to support the possible development of methodologies and test procedures to assess the magnetic field generated by currents flowing through the high-voltage battery and the powertrain inside the vehicle. This aspect is not currently regulated and only recently recommended testing procedures have been proposed by different international or national organizations. These procedures are in general similar but differ in many details. In this paper, a measurement procedure for magnetic field exposure assessment in electrified vehicles is proposed and results of its application to two electric vehicles are shown. Preliminary data shows that examined vehicles exhibit in general low magnetic field levels inside the cabin but also that there is the need to better define the conditions under which the vehicle has to be tested as well as the specifications of the instrument to be used. Moreover, data on the repeatability and reproducibility of the measurements is provided.