Design of the experimental setup for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

This paper identifies the procedure utilized to determine the required ratings of components for the experimental setup of a 2 by 2 power-split connected plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The test vehicle considered for this project has been selected from the available small scale conventionally driven vehicles in Western Australia. The main criteria for vehicle selection required that an existing electrical network was available, with alternator and battery and that the chassis has significant space and supportable structure for the coupling of an electric motor to the driveshaft. Following the selection of the vehicle the appropriate sizing of electrical components was undertaken considering a scaled standardized drive cycle selected to be utilized for testing. This involves the estimation and selection of the electric motor size, energy storage requirement and associated ratings of power electronics for control. The ADVISOR software package has been utilized to support the calculated sizes of electrical components for this experimental setup.