Energy efficiency optimization of electric vehicle driven by in-wheel motors

Electric vehicle is considered to be the solution for energy and environment crisis, but it’s still not competitive enough with conventional vehicles because of the limited energy density and high cost of the power battery. So the energy efficiency is of the most importance for the control of electric vehicles. This paper looks into the energy efficiency optimization problem of electric vehicle driven by four in-wheel motors by developing a comprehensive energy efficiency model of the permanent magnet synchronous motor including the inverter. The calculated efficiency agrees with the measured data quite well. Based on the power loss analysis, the conclusion is drawn that in all driving or braking conditions the total torque requirement should be distributed evenly to all the motors in order to maximize the energy efficiency for electric vehicles driven by permanent magnet synchronous in-wheel motors. Vehicle test results show that the energy efficiency of the evenly distributed torque control is higher than the control strategy proposed by control allocation in literature.