Enhancing the energy efficiency of fully electric vehicles via the minimization of motor power losses

Individually-controlled powertrains of fully electric vehicles present an opportunity to enhance the steady-state and transient cornering response of a car via continuously-acting controllers and enable various "driving modes" to be available. This study investigates the associated potential for energy savings through the minimization of power losses from the motor units via wheel torque allocation. Power losses in straight-ahead driving and a ramp steer maneuver for different motor types and under different wheel torque allocation schemes are analyzed in an offline simulation approach. Significant reductions in motor power losses are achieved for two motor types using an optimization scheme based on look-up tables of motor loss data. Energy loss minimization cannot be achieved through a direct quadratic approximation of the power losses.