From frugal design to energy flexibility: Rethinking electric vehicles with GIANTS

Affordable mobility is central to Europe’s clean transport transition. As cities strive to decarbonise, the challenge is not only to electrify vehicles but to make them accessible.

The GIANTS (Green Intelligent Affordable New Transport Solutions) project addresses this challenge head-on. Its guiding principle is that the next generation of EVs must not only be green and intelligent, but also affordable by design.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, GIANTS develops a modular and scalable platform for light EVs (L5–L7 class). By combining standardised components with energy smart operation, the project bridges transport innovation and energy system flexibility, enabling cleaner and more economical mobility for Europe and beyond.

Building the foundation

At the heart of GIANTS lies the belief that affordability is a prerequisite for sustainability. A clean technology only has real impact if it can scale economically.

To achieve this, GIANTS develops a modular e-driveline architecture composed of standardised subassemblies such as motors, inverters, control units and battery modules. These building blocks can be reconfigured across multiple vehicle types, reducing production costs and enabling flexible, scalable vehicle development for both passenger and cargo applications.

Digital twin environments, smart battery control algorithms and energy flow models form the analytical backbone of the project. This simulation-based approach ensures that frugal engineering translates into real-world performance, energy efficiency and operational flexibility.

Innovating at the Intersection of mobility and energy

Sustainability in GIANTS goes beyond efficient drive trains. It extends to how vehicles interact with the energy ecosystem around them.

One example innovation is grid-aware demand side management, which enables the vehicle’s batteries to charge when energy is most abundant. As renewable generation expands, flexibility has become a cornerstone of stable grid operation. GIANTS explores how light electric fleets could contribute to this flexibility by shifting charging to coincide with clean energy availability.

By aligning energy use with local PV production, avoiding peak loads and responding to grid signals, fleets can reduce costs while helping to balance variable supply and demand. GIANTS introduces two key innovations that enable this interaction: swappable batteries, which decouple charging from vehicle use and allow energy to be stored flexibly, and integrated solar panels on the vehicles themselves, which provide supplemental power during operation and when stationary.

Through digital twin simulations and smart control strategies, the project investigates how vehicle batteries, both charged via grid and solar, could one day adapt to real-time market and grid signals. Potential vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications are also being explored, where fleet batteries could support local power needs, for example, by powering depot infrastructure.

The power of collaboration

The GIANTS consortium brings together 23 partners from 12 countries, including OEMs, component suppliers, university and non-university research institutions, municipal stakeholders and organisations from both advanced and emerging markets. Their combined expertise spans vehicle design, electrification, control systems, energy modeling, digital engineering and sustainable urban mobility.

Four demonstrator vehicles, provided by participating OEMs: Squad Mobility, Clean Motion, TUX Mobility and Tojo Motors, are currently under development. These light EVs will serve as testbeds to validate the modular driveline architecture, smart charging systems and control interfaces under representative use conditions. These demonstrations will ensure that frugal design principles and energy smart operation translate into tangible system benefits.

From vision to reality

GIANTS has reached important milestones in establishing a scalable, sustainable and energy-conscious platform for light EVs. Its modular architecture has been defined, control strategies are under development and energy flow modeling is already supporting system-level decision making.

The next phase will include real vehicle testing and simulation environments to assess energy performance and system integration.

GIANTS shows that frugality and flexibility can drive clean mobility forward. By combining modular design with intelligent energy use, the project offers a practical blueprint for cost-effective, sustainable transport. Supporting Europe’s climate goals, GIANTS connects mobility innovation with the broader energy transition.

Learn more at the project website.

About the author