Title: Electric vehicle traction control for optimal energy consumption

Authors: Kumeresan A. Danapalasingam

Addresses: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Skudai, 81310 Johor, Malaysia

Abstract: An electric vehicle (EV) with four in-wheel motors (IWMs) offers several advantages over other types of EVs. Due to a limited electrical energy source and a long battery charging time, any way to minimise energy consumption in an EV has to be fully utilised. Undoubtedly one of the systems in an EV that drains the most amount of energy is the propulsion system. In this work the existence of an optimal slip ratio that enables energy saving in an EV propulsion system is investigated. A controller is designed to ensure the slip ratio of each wheel is limited by the optimal value. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed traction control scheme in energy optimisation in an EV.

Keywords: electric vehicles; energy optimisation; traction control; slip ratio; energy consumption; energy saving; propulsion systems; controller design; simulation; in-wheel motors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEHV.2013.057607

International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, 2013 Vol.5 No.3, pp.233 - 252

Received: 23 May 2013
Accepted: 22 Jul 2013
Published online: 14 Nov 2013 *

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