Challenges of Electric Power Management in Hybrid and Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles are now the fastest growing type of vehicles for personal and mass transportation. Reasons for replacing the existing transport systems, which are currently based on the heat energy generated by internal combustion engines are high fuel prices, limited resources, emissions of harmful gases and low efficiency. Electric power is one of the most effective and sustainable ways to solve future transportation problems without any revolutionary changes to the existing infrastructure and consumer comfort. There are however some limitations and problems with the existing electric transportation systems. The primary problem is the limited distance travelled on single charge and, as a result, this limitation in distance makes electric transport not as desirable or convenient, as it can be. This paper discusses methods of power management for pure electric vehicles, its problems and challenges, different devices to organize effective electrical power flow. Finally, this paper suggests ways and proposals of better power management on-board to increase usability and performance of the electric vehicles.