GEOFF RICCO
Electric Vehicle Design
Much of my career has been spent working to advance electric vehicle design from a conceptual or prototype phase, and in particular I have specialized as a system architect for the various thermal functions of an electric vehicle. This includes battery thermal management (heating and cooling of the battery packs), power electronics/powertrain thermal management (cooling of the electric motor, motor controller/inverter, DCDC converters, etc.), and HVAC (cabin heating and cooling).
Hyliion
I started at Hyliion during the very early stages of the company, back when the 15-person team was working out of a small shop in Pittsburgh, PA. At that time, Hyliion was developing an electric powertrain solution for Class-8 box trailer tandems - the idea was that the rear axle of the box trailer would function as an electric assist for the diesel truck, improving fuel economy and providing a truck-agnostic solution for over-the-road logistics fleets. For various reasons, we eventually shifted to implement this technology on the truck itself by dropping the rear drive axle and replacing this with an e-Axle, such that the vehicle effectively became a diesel hybrid with rear-axle electric power assist and fore-axle diesel propulsion. I was the design engineer for the thermal management systems, which included battery cooling, motor/motor controller/DCDC cooling, and cabin cooling (referred to as APU or "Auxiliary Power Unit" in the trucking industry). The system architecture to accomplish these functions included a sub-ambient refrigeration loop for battery and cabin cooling, a water ethylene glycol coolant loop for power electronics cooling, and an ATF oil loop for motor cooling. I was also responsible for the sheet metal structures and enclosures for mounting the various components that made up these systems. During my 2.5 years at Hyliion, we took this product from proof of concept to pilot production with a local contract manufacturer in Austin, TX after the company and all personnel relocated operations from Pittsburgh to Austin.
*All images are taken from public media sources*
Lightning eMotors
I currently work at Lightning eMotors, a company that designs and manufactures fully electric commercial vehicles by converting existing OEM platforms from ICE to electric out of Loveland, CO. In what is largely a continuation of my experience at Hyliion, I am responsible for the thermal management system design and testing of our production vehicle platforms, including the Ford Transit Class 3 van and the GM4500 Class 4 shuttle & school buses. I create thermal system requirements, size and select thermal components, define system architecture layouts and thermal routing, and manage all performance characterization and DVP testing for the battery thermal management system, power electronics cooling system, sub-ambient refrigeration system, and cabin heating and cooling systems. During my 2 years at Lightning, we have taken the GM4500 platform from prototype to low-volume production, and continue to sustain and improve this product today.
*All images are taken from public media sources*