World Electr. Veh. J., Volume 1, Issue 1 (December 2007) – 44 articles , Pages 1-301

This paper has two topics. The first one is development of novel electric vehicle (EV) powered only by "Electrical Double Layer Capacitor (EDLC)". The second one is normal force stabilizing (NFS) vehicle motion control using this experimental vehicle. The vehicle provides us useful experimental environment of EV′s motion control, since EDLC power system can shorten charging time. Only 30 seconds-charging enables us 20 minutes driving experiments. The development of small EV and the vehicle control system are shown. Novel vehicle stabilizing control in rolling motion using differential torque is proposed. Normal force has strong connectivity with driving force and its sudden decrease causes tire slip, which makes the whole vehicle motion unstable. The simulation and experimental results are shown and the effectiveness of proposed method is discussed. Full article

Hybrid electric propulsion systems are interesting solutions to increase the energy efficiency of the road transportation technology. In this paper, several series hybrid propulsion system topologies are analysed in the Vehicle Simulation Programme (VSP). Especially the use of a DC/DC converter connected between the DC-bus and a energy source like a battery or the fuel cell stack, the supercapacitor or both are investigated together with its control algorithms in the validated VSP model. Both the advantages and drawbacks of the different topologies are presented. On the basis of experimental results, the proposed power management control strategy is also validated, which can ensure the main power supply (e.g. fuel cell) only providing the moving average power. Full article

In electric vehicles that use in-wheel motors, the right and left traction forces become unbalanced if a motor malfunctions by motor lock or loss of traction, generating yaw moment. Control methods were designed to reduce this effect by stopping the motor output on the opposite side of the same axle. By using a prototype “Eliica” car, the maximum yaw rate and lateral acceleration were compared for a breakdown of one motor with the results from the “Sensitivity to lateral wind” indicated in Z108-76 of the Japanese Automobile Standards Organization. Under redundancy control, the test results were confirmed to be below the tolerance limits Full article

An algorithm that combines adaptive system with Electro-Motive-Force (EMF) measurements during equilibrium and current measurement and integration during (dis)charge states has been implemented in a real-time SoC evaluation system. During the discharge state also the effect of the overpotential is considered. The overpotential model includes a variety of parameters that are changing during cycling of the battery. Adaptive methods for the battery maximum capacity and for the overpotential model parameters are presented in this paper. The final aim is to predict the SoC and the remaining run-time of a Li-ion battery within 1% inaccuracy under all realistic user conditions. Full article

This study developed a soft-link control system for electric light vehicles. The meaning of the soft-link control is that a vehicle automatically follows the preceding vehicle with a very short inter-vehicle distance as if the both vehicles were mechanically connected. The soft-link control is expected to stretch the limitation of the light vehicles, because small capacity of the light vehicle is timely enlarged, resulting in giving a potential to apply them to more various purposes. In this study, the experimental vehicles are developed based on small electric vehicles and control algorithms are designed. Stability and reliability of control and accurate tracking are realized by using information of the preceding vehicle sent via wireless LAN communication. The experimental results show that the controlled vehicle can follow the preceding vehicle with an inter-vehicle distance of less than 1[m]. Full article

Since car buyers have limited practical experience with FCVs, direct study of FCV adoption is not feasible. However, consumer behavior toward other types of advanced-technology vehicles may offer clues about how the market for FCVs will develop. Research of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) indicates that consumers adopt these vehicles partly because of the vehicles' symbolism. Any vehicle can serve as a symbol; it can represent larger ideas, meanings that frequently relate to the identity of the vehicle’s owner. This qualitative research study examines early buyers of HEVs to understand the symbolic meanings they perceived in their vehicles and the role symbolism played in their vehicle purchases. Findings from these buyers are then prospectively applied to the future market for FCVs. The study includes four specific recommendations to increase the possibility that FCV buyers can access and communicate relevant symbolic meanings with their vehicles. Full article

Spinel type lithium manganate nanopowders were prepared by spray pyrolysis using metal nitrate solution. Chemical analysis and X-ray diffraction showed that homogeneous and high purity lithium manganate powders were obtained. The charge/discharge capacity of lithium manganate was 110mAh/g at 1C. A lithium ion battery module was also developed for the tram and its performance examined. The energy and power density of lithium ion cells were 110Wh/kg and 1920W/kg, respectively. The performance of a tram using a 20kWh type lithium ion battery module was examined. The tram ran for 20km on one charge. Full article

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have emerged as a promising technology that uses electricity to displace petroleum consumption in the vehicle fleet. This paper presents a comparison of the costs (vehicle purchase costs and energy costs) and benefits (reduced petroleum consumption) of PHEVs relative to hybrid electric and conventional vehicles. A detailed simulation model is used to predict petroleum reductions and costs of PHEV designs compared to a baseline midsize sedan. The analysis finds that petroleum reductions exceeding 45% per vehicle can be achieved by PHEVs equipped with 20 mi (32 km) or more of energy storage. However, the long-term incremental costs of these vehicles are projected to exceed US$8,000. A simple economic analysis is used to show that high petroleum prices and low battery costs are needed to make a compelling business case for PHEVs in the absence of other incentives. However, the large petroleum reduction potential of PHEVs provides strong justification for governmental support to accelerate the deployment of PHEV technology. Full article

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are one of the most energy efficient vehicles for urban traffic use. Most of the HEVs on the current market are non-externally chargeable hybrid electric vehicles. ISO standardizing for the fuel consumption test methods for this type of vehicle has just been completed. However, as HEVs are still in the development stage, the standard only covers the basic aspects of the test method and the accuracy of quantity-of-electricity measurements needs to be considered. In this paper, we discuss the effect of the accuracy of quantity-of-electricity measurements on fuel consumption measurements. We also propose measurement guidelines for achieving the required accuracy for the resultant fuel consumption for every HEV. Full article

This paper describes the application of sensorless control for hybrid electric vehicles and an analysis of the influence of magnetic saturation on sensorless control. 3-phase high frequency voltage input sensorless control that provides information on rotor position using a simple integration procedure is proposed. To analyze the influence of magnetic saturation, a non-linear motor voltage equation is solved by using finite element analysis. Simulation results show good correlation with experimental results and clearly reflect the influence of magnetic saturation. The performance of 3-phase high frequency voltage input sensorless control is greatly improved by using analyzed results. The improved sensorless control algorithm is applied to hybrid electric vehicles and gives good startup performance of an internal combustion engine. The proposed approach is very useful for designing control algorithms, considering the influence of magnetic saturation in hybrid electric vehicle applications. Full article

This paper describes failsafe control methods for electric vehicles (EVs) with the failsafe structure in which front and rear wheels are driven independently. Based on failure-diagnosis results, the failsafe control is done by dividing fault states into two types, i.e. a slight failure such as a current or a speed sensor failure and a serious failure such as an inverter or a motor failure. For the latter, the EV keeps on driving with only the healthy drive system by separating the drive system including the failed inverter or motor. On the other hand, for the former, a fault tolerant control is performed that keeps on driving while compensating for the function of the failed sensors so that the drive performance before failure can be maintained as much as possible. Effectiveness of the proposed methods is verified through simulations and experiments using bench test equipment which is equivalent to the actual EV drive systems and a prototype EV. Full article

The mobilicity Personalised Public Transport urban transport system has been developed to match the needs for mobility in the large cities of tomorrow. The whole basis of the PPT approach is that the coming decades will require a radically new methods of transport within these urban areas. It is vital that the three greatest problems of congestion, energy use and emissions (both local and global) are addressed in an innovative manner. The new mobilicity PPT system involves some fundamental changes in the use of electric drives, especially with fuel cells. Full article

Multi-wheel driven EV is referred to as an over-actuated system in the motion control synthesis process. It is meaningful to use the redundant actuators to maintain the control reliability and thus improve the dynamics of EV. In this paper, a dynamic optimum force distribution method which utilizes redundant motors is discussed. Besides, we also mention a disturbance observer to estimate the tire friction conditions. Incorporated with active yaw moment control, the proposed method is evaluated by the experiments. The results show the proposed method can improve dynamics and keep handling stability of the EV. Full article

Interest in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) has risen dramatically on account of environmental and energy concerns. The biggest issues that must be addressed in order to popularize these advanced vehicles are related to the battery.
We have been promoting vigorous R&D work on batteries for application to environmental vehicles since the beginning of the 1990s. Attention was focused on lithium-ion batteries early on as a fundamental solution to the critical issue mentioned above. The conclusion was reached that the development of those potentialities to their fullest extent would create completely new forms of value unobtainable with conventional batteries. As a result of extensive theoretical studies and many experimental demonstrations, we successfully showed ahead of others that those potentialities did in fact exist and could be achieved.
This paper makes clear the various performance requirements of advanced batteries for EV or HEV application, focusing in particular on the critical aspects of the battery thermal design and construction for system stability. It also explains how the power output of the lithium-ion battery has been substantially improved for application to HEVs. Full article

This article describes the scope of vehicle dynamics control application on micro-scale electric vehicle for enhancing its active safety. The use of in-wheel-motor control in various control objectives as active safety devices are stated in the paper. In the first half of the paper, the control systems for enhancing vehicle dynamics are described. The active front steering by using steer-by-wire mechanism for improving vehicle handling and stability is mainly presented. The latter half of the paper presents the control system designed for driving assist system. The lane keeping control with torque distribution strategy is described. The theoretical controller design and experimental validation are shown in the paper Full article

Vehicle simulation software is essential to vehicle design and development. Most current vehicle software simulations, however, require that components be specified prior to running the simulations. Within this context, this paper presents a simulator offering to users flexibility enough to add new component and use different level of accuracy. Thus a first version of a new software tool, in order to assist in developing technologies for Electric Vehicle (EV), is described. The ELEctric VEhicle Simulator (ELEVES) is currently being developed as a research project in the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM) by our laboratory Systems and Transportations (SeT). This simulator is developed on the base of the Component Hybrid Dynamic Nets (CHDN). As application, the proposed software tool has been used to modeling and simulation of four motorized wheels electric vehicle. Finally, a comparison between the results obtained by ELEVES with those obtained by Matlab/ Simulink software tool has been included. Full article

This paper reports the production process and the features of a newly developed high-performance DC electric fuse to be used for high voltage, high energy system applications, such as electric vehicles, factory inverter circuits, fuel cell systems. The voltage of power circuits used in electric vehicles has increased to 500 V or more. This shift to higher voltages is done to reduce current, harness weight and improve motor-controller’s efficiency. The fuses that protect these circuits must shut out DC arcs, yet their performance needs improving. This paper reports the performance of a new fuse formed by a thin film of Titanium Hydride on copper film. This new fuse has shown great potential in protecting high voltage circuits of future electric vehicles as well as hybrid electric vehicles, and other high voltage DC electric power devices. Full article

Drivetrain hybridization implies adding a secondary power source (electric machine/battery) to a primary power source (engine/filled fuel tank) in order to improve: fuel economy, emissions, drivability (performance), comfort and safety. Designing a hybrid vehicle drivetrain fulfilling the required vehicle driving functions is therefore a complex task. Many researchers have put effort formulating and developing overall hybrid drivetrain analysis, design and optimization models including top-level vehicle control strategy for optimal fuel economy. This paper seeks to investigate the possibility of overall model simplification for the hybrid drivetrain system including the control strategy. This is performed by describing the component efficiencies and control rules with only a few characteristic parameters that capture the total systems fuel efficiency with sufficient accuracy (~1%). Using these parameters the modeling and simulation process can be done very quickly. The method has been demonstrated on a series -, a parallel - and a series-parallel hybrid drivetrain with specified component technologies, vehicle parameters and drive cycle. The fuel economy and control strategy results are compared with Simulink/Advisor and Dynamic Programming. Full article

This paper describes the experiences made inside the Annex VII “Hybrid Vehicle” Phase III of the IEA Implement Hybrid & Electric Vehicle. In particular, the paper focuses on the Components that have been investigated by the working group. The development of a vehicle with an electric traction system, like HEV has to deal with the introduction of components which are not present in Conventional Vehicle (CV), or which, even if present in CV, they must undergo modifications for an HEV application, like for instance the cooling compressor.
The working-group has singled out 4 main interesting areas which have these critical components: Fuel Converters, Drives, Energy Storage, and Auxiliaries. The issues related to these areas must be properly solved for achieving the needed HEV’s performances. Inside the Annex VII the experts have discussed it, and the paper gives an overview of this process. Full article

The paper presents a concept and an implementation of a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) energy storage test bench. This system permits to simulate energy management strategies or battery models in real time in combination with a real energy storage system. A vehicle behavior is simulated on computer, such as longitudinal dynamics, internal combusting engine (IEC), electric motors etc. and a software interface to a Data Acquisition Card (DAQ) provides real signal inputs and outputs from the simulation environment. The presented HIL system is an adequate platform for the verification and validation of battery models, thermal management models or battery management models. Full article

Poor or absent infrastructure for supplying energy for electric vehicles (EVs) and a short driving range prevent the widespread use of EVs in Japan. In this study, an inexpensive series hybrid system, consisting of an EV and a trailer-type engine generator (TEG), was developed to extend the driving range. A trailer and a gasoline operating engine generator, which can be supplied at common gas stations, were designed and manufactured. Several driving experiments to evaluate the performance of this new system were carried out. Considering the total weight of 1,900 kg and the small engine, the average fuel economy over 11 km/liter obtained in the experiment was notable. This series hybrid system achieved a better performance than the plug-in hybrid system which has been developed recently. The Japanese government agreed to register this TEG as a special-purpose vehicle for emergency power supply in July 2007. Full article

An electric traction machine for an electric or a hybrid electric vehicle is usually designed for a specific operating point or cycle. For such an operating point or cycle, the masses and the cooling circuit of the electric machine determine the time dependent temperature distribution within the machine. For a specific load cycle, the thermal simulation of the machine can reveal possible mass and size reductions for a given insulation class of the machine. In addition, such simulations allow the comparison of various cooling concepts. In the machine design process, the first step is a conventional electromagnetic machine design. From the geometric data of this design and the material properties, the parameters of a thermal equivalent circuit can be derived. The differential and algebraic equations of the thermal equivalent circuit are solved by a simulation tool to predict the temperatures of the critical parts in the electric machine. A thermal equivalent circuit is accurate enough to predict the thermal behavior of the critical parts in the electric machine, and yet not too complex, to obtain simulation results with moderate numerical effort. This enables an iterative design process to optimize the drive. Full article

Three phase induction machines for traction applications in electric and hybrid electric vehicles can be used with a fixed gear due to the wide speed range enabled by field weakening. Although the induction machine is know as an extremely reliable and robust device, machine faults may occur. Machine faults which do not become detected may cause complete failure of the vehicle. Therefore, early detection of machine faults must be seen as important contribution for reliability and predictive maintenance. Stator winding and rotor failures, however, are a serious problem of squirrel cage induction machines. In an electric or a hybrid electric vehicle the traction machine may undergo severe thermal stress. Stator faults may occur much faster due to insulation breakdown or overload and are therefore more critical with respect to time. Such failures have therefore to be detected immediately after occurring. This paper presents fault detection techniques for stator and rotor faults of squirrel cage induction machines. Both the presented methods are model based techniques, competent to handle variable speed and load operating conditions. Full article

Electric Vehicles (EVs) driven by electric motors are suitable for speed control, which means the ride comfort and safety can be improved in ordinary traveling and emergency by applying speed patterns. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a Realtime SMART Speed Pattern Generator (RSSPG) taking account of driver’s command change. In the RSSPG, speedy acceleration/deceleration can be implemented under the constraints of acceleration and jerk limits. The parameter C which is associated with slope of jerk can be adjusted to fit accelerator/brake actions of human drivers with different driving styles. Some experimental results by our test EV ‘UOT March II’ are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed RSSPG. Full article

This paper is concerned with a docking assistance system on a charging station for electric vehicles (EV). An EV is automatically guided to a target docking spot for charging with high precision. This paper proposes a new concept of a vehicle guidance system for approaching a target spot for charging, which is an extension of the driver assistance by the cooperation between vehicles and infrastructure, and aims at an intelligent charging station. The system proposed here contributes to make it easy to approach a target spot for charging. Simulation studies and experiments are conducted to show the feasibility of the system proposed. In the experiment, a vehicle was guided by the proposed system that measures the position and the heading of a guided vehicle to indicate it the appropriate steering and the velocity to its goal. Full article

Aluminum-doped lithium manganese powders were successfully produced by internal combustion-type spray pyrolysis using metal nitrate solution. As-prepared particles with an average diameter of about 4 μm had a porous microstructure and were nonagglomerated. Chemical analysis showed that the molar ratio of Li/Mn and the content of Aluminum were kept contact with the starting solution concentration. A lithium ion battery module for electric vehicle (EV) was also developed and its performance was examined. A 53 kWh lithium ion battery module was set on an electric microbus, and then its performance was examined. Full article

An 8Ah prismatic lithium ion cell with high current charge and discharge ability has been developed. Due to the safety and cost issues, the power type Li-ion cell was designed by using LiMn₂O₄ and carbon as cathode and anode materials, respectively. Specific power, discharge rate capability and safety performance of the battery is enhanced through the receipt of material system, electrodes design and new conducting mechanism for the cell structure. The internal resistance of the cell is lower than 2mΩ. The performance tests show the specific power of the new developed cell is over 2000W/kg at 80% SOC. For the rate capability characteristic at room temperature (25 ^oC), the cell can be retained 93.6% of its initial capacity when discharge at 15C rate (120A). Safety tests including nail penetration, external short circuit and overcharge are investigated. The results show neither explosion nor fire under all safety test conditions. A 14.4V battery module including 4 cells in series and integrated battery management system (BMS) has been developed. The BMS is capable of monitoring cell condition (voltage, temperature and current), charge/discharge management and safety protection. 10 modules (40 cells) are connected in series to achieve a 144V battery system for HEV. The discharge power of this battery system is higher than 12.5kW at 50%SOC, which meets the requirements of HEV applications. Full article

Taiwan has more than 13 million registered motorcycles. EPA set the mandate of 2% electric motorcycle to be sold in 2000 and subsidized consumers to buy those clean vehicles were proved not successful and stopped. A smaller, lighter styling electric scooter was then becoming more or less popular in countryside may be categorized as “Small Light Motorcycle” in near future. This article briefly reviews the development of electric scooter during past years and focus on the status, too. There are some new developments of electric scooter with different hybrid concepts show good potential are also introduced. Full article

HarmonHy is a European Union-funded Specific Support Action aiming to make an assessment of the activities on hydrogen and fuel cell regulations, codes and standards (RCS) on a worldwide level. On this basis, gaps have been identified and potential conflicts between regulations, codes and standards have been investigated. Types of document to be referred to include international, regional and national standards, EU directives, UNECE regulations,… Particular attention will be paid to the identification of the needs for standards as perceived by the industry as well as to actions aiming to ensure concordance between standards, codes and regulations.
Standards and regulations require harmonization.
HarmonHy pursues the elaboration of an action plan and a roadmap for future work on harmonizing regulations, codes and standards on hydrogen and fuel cells on an international level. Full article

It is quite a well-known fact that there exists a gap between fuel consumption of vehicles measured by driving schedule test cycle and fuel consumption in actual use (actual fuel consumption). In order to investigate the actual fuel consumption statistically, we put focus upon the voluntary reported fuel consumption log data collected through an internet-connected mobile phone system from all over Japan and have been establishing an actual fuel consumption database. In this paper, actual fuel consumption of hybrid electric vehicles, together with those of internal combustion engine vehicles, in Japanese condition has been estimated. Full article