Step by step design of the power stage of a light electric vehicle

The design of electric vehicles have be exhausted source of research during the last three decades. Nowadays, many general guidelines to design the power stage of electric vehicles can be found spread out in literature. However, neither standard design procedure nor single paper has been reported which considerers the selection and design of each power stage from scratch. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to present a standardized procedure to design the traction power stage of an electric vehicle from scratch. The procedure presented in this paper is used as a benchmark to develop the traction power stage of an experimental fuel cell, supercapacitor electric vehicle with electric differential. Fuel cell is employed to provide the average power during the driving journey. Supercapacitors supply the peak power during acceleration and they absorb the regenerate power during breaking. Finally, two induction machines connected each one to a single gear directly coupled to the rear wheels and controlled with indirect field oriented control creates an electric differential. Theoretical results of this procedure and design are verified through digital simulation, and confirmed by developing a 500 kg experimental traction drive. Copyright © 2008 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.