A virtual prototype, also known as a digital mock-up, is a computer simulation of a physical product that may be presented, assessed, and tested from product life-cycle phases such as design, production, service, and recycling as if it were a genuine physical model. The practice of developing and testing a virtual prototype is known as virtual prototyping (VP).

Virtual prototyping has grown as a computer-based simulation of systems with realism and accuracy to enhance the design, and in certain situations, replace the actual prototype to save time and money.

One of the main goals of vehicle manufacturers is to improve the designing process and create a more realistic model before manufacturing a prototype, which is usually costly and is frequently manufactured numerous times before the actual design is achieved.

According to BIS Research, the global electric vehicle virtual prototyping market is estimated to reach $5,613.2 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 33.83 percent between 2021 and 2030.

Factors Affecting the Growth of Electric Vehicle Virtual Prototyping Industry

Businesses and industrial companies are using virtual prototypes (VP) to replace conventional physical testing of product models. Physical testing takes a long time to provide the desired outcome and costs more money. Businesses may use virtual prototyping solutions to increase product testing accuracy while also increasing ergonomics. This is expected to drive the global vehicle virtual prototyping market.

Virtual prototyping is a software-based engineering process that allows you to digitally develop, replicate, and test a prototype under real-world conditions. Product affordability has increased on the manufacturers’ end owing to the adoption of technologies such as computer-aided design (CAD), simulation tools, and virtual reality (VR) with VP tools. Additionally, virtual prototype simulations also aid in the optimal planning of manufacturing lines and facility layouts.

The conventional approach of product development used to take a long time since it required the construction of a physical prototype and then shipping it to a lab for testing. The testing was carried out to detect flaws within the prototype, which was then modified or rebuilt. This cycle took a long time and caused needless delays in the development schedule of the actual product. However, the virtual prototyping method has proved to be highly beneficial in eradicating any unnecessary faults from the design optimization process. This can be attributed to the scope for design modification and the presence of a virtual testing environment, which has helped minimize development costs and time.

Fit and interference analysis is a time-consuming and error-prone approach that might be substituted by VP using three-dimensional models. Two-dimensional drawings require at least two orthogonal projections to provide adequate geometrical information about a design. However, unlike three-dimensional models, highly exact physical mock-ups are usually necessary to check for potential interaction with two-dimensional models.

Automakers must strike the right balance of performance, driving range, cost, and economy while creating EVs. They must also cope with the issues posed by the harsh working environment of vehicles, as well as the interplay of electrical and mechanical components in this environment. Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have decided to utilize more hardware and software to supply intelligence to their vehicles rather than fewer electromechanical pieces to save money. Virtual prototyping provides a detailed method for testing the entire electric vehicle (EV) electrical system without the use of physical hardware. An integrated and collaborative strategy includes hardware, software, and systems that can assist in faster EV electrical system development. Furthermore, in an era where work-from-home arrangements are becoming more popular, virtual prototyping eliminates the necessity for testing to take place on a test track or in a lab, allowing flexibility within the overall testing or prototyping process.

To summarize, prototyping has been an important tool in the automobile design process, allowing designers and engineers to discover manufacturing issues and gauge customer reactions during the product development cycle.

Today, the use of virtual prototyping for the creation of EV electronics hardware and software is the industry's ultimate solution for lowering prototyping costs, effort, and time. Virtual prototyping technologies from Synopsys, including as Virtualizer, Silver, TestWeaver, and SaberRD, are used in the integrated solution, which has been adapted for EV system development.