UNIT 3

Electric vehicle (EV) design

configuration-I
Electric Vehicle (EV) Configurations
Compared to HEV, the configuration of EV is flexible. The reasons for
this flexibility are:

• The energy flow in EV is mainly via flexible electrical wires rather than
bolted flanges or rigid shafts. Hence, distributed subsystems in the EV
are really achievable.

• The EVs allow different propulsion arrangements such as independent

four wheels and in wheel drives.
• The EV has three major subsystems:
• Electric propulsion
• Energy source
• Auxiliary system

The electric propulsion subsystem comprises of:

• The electronic controller
• Power converter
• Electric Motor (EM)
• Mechanical transmission
• Driving wheels
• The energy source subsystem consists of
• The energy source (battery, fuel cell, ultracapacitor)
• Energy management unit
• Energy refueling unit

The auxiliary subsystem consists of

• Power steering unit
• Temperature control unit
• Auxiliary power supply
• In Figure 1 the black line represents the mechanical link,
• The green line represents the electrical link and
• The blue line represents the control information communication.
• Based on the control inputs from the brake and accelerator pedals,
the electronic controller provides proper control signals to switch on
or off the power converter which in turn regulates the power flow
between the electric motor and the energy source.
• The backward power flow is due to regenerative braking of the EV
and this regenerative energy can be stored provided the energy
source is receptive.
• The energy management unit cooperates with the electronic
controller to control regenerative braking and its energy recovery.
• It also works with the energy-refueling unit to control refueling and to
monitor usability of the energy source.
• The auxiliary power supply provides the necessary power with
different voltage levels for all EV auxiliaries, especially the
temperature control and power steering units.
• In modern EV’s configuration:
• Three phase motors are generally used to provide the traction force
• The power converter is a three-phase PWM inverter
• Mechanical transmission is based on fixed gearing and a differential
• Li-ion battery is typically selected as the energy source
The electronic controller
• The controller is somewhat of a “middleman,” as it ensures balance
and proper flow of energy within an EV.
• It also serves as the “brain,” as it figures out how much energy is
needed by the vehicle to go smoothly on the road.
• When you open the hood, you’ll notice how huge the controller is; it
dominates the entire area.
• The controller has heavy wires that are connected to the batteries
and motor.
• Your accelerator pedal is connected to a pair of potentiometers.
• A potentiometer, commonly referred to as “pot,” is connected to the
controller to send a signal as to how much energy is needed by the
driver.
• If the driver steps on the pedal until it reaches the floor, then it
requires maximum power.
• There are two pots connected to the accelerator pedal and both must
be balanced to ensure that it will send the appropriate signal to the
controller.
• If one is faulty, the controller has the capability to figure that out,
making the EV stop.
• That is essential because there might be instances wherein the driver
needs light energy yet one potentiometer could send the maximum
energy signal.
• If that occurs, then mishaps are most likely to happen.
• That is where the controller works – ensuring that both
potentiometers are correlated, providing the accurate signal to the
controller which will be transferred to the motor for power.
• A controller is undoubtedly essential inside the electric vehicle.
• Without it, other parts of the electric vehicle will not work properly.
• Owners must always make sure that their controller is in good
condition, not just to provide you with maximum vehicle performance
but also to safeguard you from probable road accidents.
For controlling the speed of DC Motor above the rated value
• A. Armature Voltage Control is used
• B. Armature Resistance Control is used
• C. Field Flux Control is used
• D. Any method can be used
Application of PLL control DC drives are in
• A. Paper mills
• B. Rolling mills
• C. Printing press
• D. All of the above
Power converter
• The different configurations of EV power supply show that at least
one DC/DC converter is necessary to interface the FC, the Battery or
the Supercapacitors module to the DC-link.
• In electric engineering, a DC to DC converter is a category of power
converters and it is an electric circuit which converts a source of
direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another, by storing the
input energy temporarily and then releasing that energy to the output
at a different voltage.
• The storage may be in either magnetic field storage components
(inductors, transformers) or electric field storage components
(capacitors).
• DC/DC converters can be designed to transfer power in only one
direction, from the input to the output.
• However, almost all DC/DC converter topologies can be made bi-
directional.
• A bi-directional converter can move power in either direction, which
is useful in applications requiring regenerative braking.
• The amount of power flow between the input and the output can be
controlled by adjusting the duty cycle (ratio of on/off time of the
switch).
• Usually, this is done to control the output voltage, the input current,
the output current, or to maintain a constant power.
DC chopper drives are known for its
• A. Large weight
• B. High efficiency
• C. Large size
• D. Slow response
Electric Vehicle (EV) Drivetrain Alternatives Based on Drivetrain
Configuration
• There are many possible EV configurations due the variations in
electric propulsion and energy sources.
• Based on these variations, six alternatives are possible as shown in
Figure 3.
These six alternatives are
• single EM configuration with gearbox (GB) and a clutch
• single EM configuration without the gearbox and the clutch
• configuration of EV using one EM
• a dual motor configuration
• in-wheel drive
• configuration without any mechanical gearing
• In Figure 3a a single EM configuration
with gearbox (GB) and a clutch is shown.
• It consists of an EM, a clutch (C), a
gearbox, and a differential (D).
• The clutch enables the connection or
disconnection of power flow from EM to
the wheels.
• The gear consists of a set of gears with
different gear ratios.
• With the use of clutch and gearbox, the
driver can shift the gear ratios and hence
the torque going to the wheels can be
changed.
• The wheels have high torque low speed
in the lower gears and high-speed low
torque in the higher gears.
• In Figure 3b a single EM
configuration without the
gearbox and the clutch is
shown.
• The advantage of this
configuration is that the weight
of the transmission is reduced.
• However, this configuration
demands a more complex
control of the EM to provide
the necessary torque to the
wheels.
• Figure 3c shows a
configuration of EV using
one EM.
• It is a transverse front EM
front wheel drive
configuration.
• It has a fixed gearing and
differential and they are
integrated into a single
assembly.
• In Figure 3d a dual
motor configuration is
shown.
• In this configuration the
differential action of an
EV when cornering can
be electronically
provided by two electric
motors.
• In order to shorten the
mechanical transmission
path from the EM to the
driving wheel, the EM
can be placed inside a
wheel.
• This configuration is
called in-wheel drive.
• Figure 3e shows this
configuration in which
fixed planetary gearing is
employed to reduce the
motor speed to the
desired wheel speed.
• In Figure 3f an EV
configuration
without any
mechanical gearing is
shown.
• By fully abandoning
any mechanical
gearing, the in-wheel
drive can be realized
by installing a low
speed outer-rotor
electric motor inside
a wheel.