Drive system analysis of a novel plug-in hybrid vehicle

With breakthroughs in battery technology, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), jointly powered by an electric drive and an internal combustion engine are becoming a realistic alternative. In a PHEV, the battery is charged by the grid and the electric machine plays the major role in the vehicle drive so that the engine is only required to provide extra torque when accelerating and to drive the generator and vehicle when the battery level is low. This paper discusses a PHEV drive system with only one electric machine which functions as either a motor or generator and a supercapacitor bank for fast charging and discharging during regenerative braking and fast acceleration. The drive system is modeled using PSAT software. Several performance indexes, such as fuel economy, engine efficiency, range and acceleration are used to compare with a traditional vehicle. The PHEV performance is investigated using three typical driving cycles, i.e., an urban driving schedule, an extra-urban driving cycle and a highway fuel economy driving schedule. These are evaluated in detail.