Course: Electric Motor and Drive Systems for Electric Vehicle

Course code: BEE613D

Faculty: Prof. Dhanush S

Module: 02 Notes

Content:
1. Configuration of Electric Vehicle

2. Performance of Electric Vehicle

3. Traction Motor Characteristic's

4. Tractive Effort & Transmission Requirement

5. Vehicle Performance, Tractive effort in Normal Driving

6. Energy Consumption
1. Configuration of Electric Vehicles:

A modern electric drive train is conceptually illustrated in Figure 4.2.1 The drive train
consists of three major subsystems: electric motor propulsion, energy source, and auxiliary.
The electric propulsion subsystem is comprised of a vehicle controller, power electronic
converter, electric motor, mechanical transmission, and driving wheels.
The energy source subsystem involves the energy source, the energy management unit, and
the energy refueling unit. The auxiliary subsystem consists of the power steering unit, the
hotel climate control unit, and the auxiliary supply unit.
Based on the control inputs from the accelerator and brake pedals, the vehicle controller
provides proper control signals to the electronic power converter, which functions to regulate
the power flow between the electric motor and energy source.
The backward power flow is due to the regenerative braking of the EV and this regenerated
energy can be restored to the energy source, provided the energy source is receptive. Most EV
batteries as well as ultra-capacitors and flywheels readily possess the ability to accept
regenerated energy. The energy management unit cooperates with the vehicle controller to
control the regenerative braking and its energy recovery.

It also works with the energy refueling unit to control the refueling unit, and to monitor the
usability of the energy source. The auxiliary power supply provides the necessary power at
different voltage levels for all the EV auxiliaries, especially the hotel climate control and
power steering units.
Different EV Configurations:
There are a variety of possible EV configurations due to the variations in electric propulsion
characteristics and energy sources, as shown in Figure 4.3
(a) Figure 4.3(a) shows the configuration of the first alternative, in which an electric
propulsion replaces the IC engine of a conventional vehicle drive train. It consists of an
electric motor, a clutch, a gearbox, and a differential. The clutch and gearbox may be
replaced by automatic transmission.
The clutch is used to connect or disconnect the power of the electric motor from the driven
wheels. The gearbox provides a set of gear ratios to modify the speed-power (torque) profile
to match the load requirement.
The differential is a mechanical device (usually a set of planetary gears), which enables the
wheels of both sides to be driven at different speeds when the vehicle runs along a curved
path.
(b) With an electric motor that has constant power in a long speed range a fixed gearing can
replace the multispeed gearbox and reduce the need for a clutch. This configuration not only
reduces the size and weight of the mechanical transmission, but also simplifies the drive
train control because gear shifting is not needed.
(c) Similar to the drive train in (b), the electric motor, the fixed gearing, and the differential
can be further integrated into a single assembly while both axles point at both driving
wheels. The whole drive train is further simplified and compacted.
(d) In Figure 4.3(d), the mechanical differential is replaced by using two traction motors.
Each of them drives one side wheel and operates at a different speed when the vehicle is
running along a curved path.
(e) In order to further simplify the drive train, the traction motor can be placed inside a
wheel. This arrangement is the so-called inwheel drive. A thin planetary gear set may be
used to reduce the motor speed and enhance the motor torque.
The thin planetary gear set offers the advantage of a high-speed reduction ratio as well as an
inline arrangement of the input and output shaft.
(f) By fully abandoning any mechanical gearing between the electric motor and the driving
wheel, the out-rotor of a low-speed electric motor in the in-wheel drive can be directly
connected to the driving wheel.
The speed control of the electric motor is equivalent to the control of the wheel speed and
hence the vehicle speed. However, this arrangement requires the electric motor to have a
higher torque to start and accelerate the vehicle.
2. Performance of Electric Vehicles
A vehicle’s driving performance is usually evaluated by its acceleration time, maximum
speed, and gradeability. In EV drive train design, proper motor power rating and
transmission parameters are the primary considerations to meet the performance
specification. The design of all these parameters depends mostly on the speed–power
(torque) characteristics of the traction motor.

3. Traction motor characteristics:

Variable-speed electric motor drives usually have the characteristics shown in Figure 4.4. At
the low-speed region (less than the base speed as marked in Figure 4.4), the motor has a
constant torque. In the high-speed region (higher than the base speed), the motor has a
constant power. This characteristic is usually represented by a speed ratio x, defined as the
ratio of its maximum speed to its base speed.

In low-speed operations, voltage supply to the motor increases with the increase of the speed
through the electronic converter while the flux is kept constant. At the point of base speed,
the voltage of the motor reaches the source voltage.
After the base speed, the motor voltage is kept constant and the flux is weakened, dropping
hyperbolically with increasing speed. Hence, its torque also drops hyperbolically with
increasing speed.

Figure 4.5 shows the torque–speed profiles of a 60 kW motor with different speed ratios x
(x=2, 4, and 6). It is clear that with a long constant power region, the maximum torque of the
motor can be significantly increased, and hence vehicle acceleration and gradeability
performance can be improved and the transmission can be simplified.
4. Tractive effort and Transmission requirement:

The tractive effort developed by a traction motor on driven wheels and the vehicle speed are
expressed as

where Tm and Nm are the motor torque output and speed in rpm, respectively, ig is the gear
ratio of transmission, i0 is the gear ratio of final drive, ηt is the efficiency of the whole
driveline from the motor to the driven wheels, and rd is the radius of the drive wheels.

The use of a multigear or single-gear transmission depends mostly on the motor speed–
torque characteristics. That is, at a given rated motor power, if the motor has a long constant
power region, a single-gear transmission would be sufficient for a high tractive effort at low
speeds. Otherwise, a multigear (more than two gears) transmission has to be used.

Figure 4.6 shows the tractive effort of an EV, along with the vehicle speed with a traction
motor of x=2 and a three-gear transmission. The first gear covers the speed region of a–b–c,
the second gear covers d–e–f, and the third gear covers g–f–h.
Figure 4.7 shows the tractive effort with a traction motor of x=6 and a two-gear transmission.
The first gear covers the speed region of a–b–c and the second gear d–e–f.

Figure 4.8 shows the tractive effort with a traction motor of x=6 and a single-gear
transmission. These three designs have the same tractive effort vs. vehicle speed profiles.
Therefore, the vehicles will have the same acceleration and gradeability performance.
5. Vehicle performance:

Basic vehicle performance includes maximum cruising speed, gradeability, and acceleration.
The maximum speed of a vehicle can be easily found by the intersection point of the tractive
effort curve with the resistance curve (rolling resistance plus aerodynamic drag), in the
tractive effort vs. vehicle speed.

It should be noted that such an intersection point does not exist in some designs, which
usually use a larger traction motor or a large gear ratio. In this case, the maximum vehicle
speed is determined by the maximum speed of the traction motor as

where Nm max is the allowed maximum rpm of the traction motor and ig min is the minimum
gear ratio of the transmission (highest gear). Gradeability is determined by the net tractive
effort of the vehicle, Ft-net (F t-net-Ft –Fr-Fw), as shown in Figures 4.6–4.8. At mid- and
high speeds, the gradeability is smaller than the gradeability at low speeds

Tractive effort in normal driving

Actual tractive effort (power) and vehicle speed vary widely with operating conditions, such
as acceleration or deceleration, uphill or downhill motion, etc. These variations are
associated with the traffic environment as well as the type of vehicles.

City and highway traffic conditions vary greatly, as do the different missions of the vehicles,
such as a universal passenger car and vehicles with regular operation routes and schedules. It
is difficult to describe the tractive effort and vehicle speed variations in all actual traffic
environments accurately and quantitatively.

However, some representative drive cycles (driving schedules) have been developed to
emulate typical traffic environments. These drive cycles are represented by the vehicle
speeds vs. the operating time while driving on a flat road.
(Speed profile and tractive effort in different representative drive cycles; operating points
are marked by ‘+’, (a) FTP 75 urban, (b) FTP 75 highway, (c) US06, (d) J227a schedule B,
(e) J227a schedule C, and (f) J227a schedule D)

Some typical drive cycles are illustrated in Figure 4.12, which include (a) FTP75 urban cycle,
(b) FTP75 highway cycle, (c) US06 cycle, which is a high-speed and high-acceleration drive
cycle, (d) J227a schedule B, (e) J227a schedule C, and (f) J227a schedule D. The J227a
series is recommended by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the U.S.A.6 and is applied
in the evaluation of EVs and batteries.
In a specific drive cycle, the tractive effort of a vehicle can be expressed as

6. Energy consumption
In transportation, the unit of energy is usually kilowatt-hour (kWh) rather than joule or
kilojoule (J or kJ). The energy consumption per unit distance in kWh/km is generally used to
evaluate the vehicle energy consumption. However, for ICE vehicles the commonly used unit
is a physical unit of fuel volume per unit distance, such as liters per 100 km (l/100 km). In the
U.S., the distance per unit volume of fuel is usually used; this is expressed as miles per gallon
(mpg).

On the other hand, for battery-powered EVs, the original energy consumption unit in kWh,
measured at the battery terminals, is more suitable. The battery energy capacity is usually
measured in kWh and the driving range per battery charge can be easily calculated. Similar
to ICE vehicles, l/100 km (for liquid fuels) or kg/100 km (for gas fuels, such as hydrogen) or
mpg, or miles per kilogram is a more suitable unit of measurement for vehicles that use
gaseous fuels.

Energy consumption is an integration of the power output at the battery terminals. For
propelling, the battery power output is equal to resistance power and any power losses in the
transmission and the motor drive, including power losses in electronics. The power losses in
transmission and motor drive are represented by their efficiencies ηt and ηm, respectively.
Thus the battery power output can be expresses as: