Design, development and characterisation of a FPGA platform for multi-motor electric vehicle control

Two three-phase squirrel-cage induction motors are used as a propulsion system of an electric vehicle (EV). A simple XC3S1000 FPGA is used to simultaneously control both electric motors, with field oriented control and space vector modulation techniques. To electronically distribute the torque between the two electric motors, a simple, yet effective, strategy based on a uniform torque distribution has been implemented. Experimental results obtained with a multi-motor EV prototype demonstrate the proper operation of the proposed system.