On Conversion of Hybrid Electric Vehicles to Plug-In

The retrofit conversion of currently available hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to plug-in HEVs (PHEVs) is studied in this paper through experiments and simulations using the powertrain system analysis toolkit (PSAT). First, a rule-based fuzzy controller of the battery energy-management unit is developed to simulate different energy-management policies. Second, by modifying the energy-control strategy, the model of the conversion PHEV (C-PHEV) is verified with experiments. Finally, the C-PHEV model is used to simulate different battery energy-management control strategies. The results show improvement in fuel economy, whereas the energy-management controller discharges the power through the plug-in battery pack only when the state of charge of the base vehicle battery is close to its minimum value. This method keeps the advantage of driving in electric mode using a combination of two batteries and optimizing the use of regenerative braking capabilities, which is the main advantage of HEVs. It is also found that increasing the power threshold of the internal combustion engine (ICE) improves the performance of C-PHEV. Increasing the ICE power threshold increases the engine efficiency by running the engine in its efficient points. It also drives the vehicle in electric mode in higher power demands.