With the rapid advancement of technology, we are moving towards a society that is increasingly driven by computer intelligence. At the same time, we are facing pressing environmental issues that are pushing us towards cleaner solutions. One industry that is heavily influenced by these two factors is the automotive industry, where autonomous electric vehicles are gaining more popularity. Audi AG, one of the biggest car manufacturer companies, is now trying to take a step forward in this market by implementing two low-voltage energy sources into the system to improve automation features. The main obstacle to the introduction of these energy sources is the strong influence that temperature has on them. Both high and low temperatures are detrimental to the battery's lifespan and performance and, in extreme conditions, they may completely impede the energy source from supplying energy or lead to thermal runaway. Therefore, effective thermal regulation of the energy source is fundamental to ensure battery availability and enhance efficiency. The objective of this research is to develop a new thermal regulating system for low-voltage energy sources in autonomous electric vehicles.

Increasing emissions have led to the search for alternate power systems to provide energy for maritime applications. The recent drop in battery prices (over 200 % in the last ten years) has made battery energy storage one of the practical alternatives for fossil fuels to curb emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of the maritime sector. The main criterion for choosing a ship’s battery system is its operational profile. Therefore, this study estimated and studied the operational profiles of three use cases - Superyacht, Bulk Carrier and Ferry. The information about the power requirements for ship activities was obtained from the operational profile. Based on that information, different strategies were presented to implement battery energy storage for each use case. A rule-based controller was developed to simulate the power split between the IC engines and battery packs for hybrid systems. Battery packs were sized according to the batteries’ energy consumption, which was found using the design criteria for each use case. A State of Charge (SOC) estimation model based on Coulomb Counting was developed to study the load cycles of the batteries. The SOC profiles were estimated for the proposed battery-powered systems and then characterised for each use case. Finally, a comparison between the conventional power system and the proposed battery power systems was made based on fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.