Experimental Investigation of Electric Vehicle Performance and Energy Consumption on Chassis Dynamometer Using Drive Cycle Analysis

This article reports an experimental study carried out to investigate the vehicle performance and energy consumption (EC) of an electric vehicle (EV) on three different driving cycles using drive cycle analysis. The driving cycles are the Indian Driving Cycle (IDC), Modified Indian Driving Cycle (MIDC) and Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC). A new prototype electric powertrain was developed using an indigenous three-phase induction motor (3PIM), Li-ion battery (LiB) pack, vector motor controller, and newly developed mechanical parts. In this research work, a pollution-causing gasoline car (Maruti Zen) was converted into an EV by using the new powertrain. The EV conversion vehicle was used as the test vehicle. After the removal of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) the new powertrain was integrated with the vehicle's gearbox (GB) system which was configured on a single motor, fixed gear configuration having a gear ratio of 1.28:1. The EV performance tests were carried out on the chassis dynamometer that followed the driving cycles. The maximum speed test showed a top speed of 64 km/h for the EV. The average vehicle speed and EC of the EV were 21.82 km/h and 106.23 Wh/km for the IDC, 17.75 km/h and 110.91 Wh/km for the MIDC-I, and 19.57 km/h and 87.35 Wh/km for the WLTC-low, respectively. The test results of battery current, input power, mechanical power, and EC with respect to the vehicle speed and torque versus motor rpm were analyzed and discussed. It was observed that the performance and EC of the test EV need to be improved. The study and test results verified the new electric powertrain system (EPT) suitable for a city EV and provided useful data for design and performance improvement of the indigenous battery and motor drive system. © 2020 SAE International.