Fundamentals of Vehicle Propulsion and Brake

Vehicle operation fundamentals mathematically describe vehicle behavior, based on the general principles of mechanics. A vehicle, consisting of thousands of components, is a complex system. To describe its behavior fully, sophisticated mechanical and mathematical knowledge is needed. A great amount of literature in this field already exists. Since this book proposes to discuss electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell power trains, the discussion of vehicle fundamentals will be restricted to one-dimensional movement. This chapter will, therefore, focus on vehicle performance, such as speed, gradeability, acceleration, fuel consumption, and braking performance.