An Optimal Energy Management System for Battery Electric Vehicles

Environmental pollution and high fuel costs have increased demands for an alternative energy source for transportation. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are attracting the attention of researchers of automotive engineering field to address these concerns because of their reputation for being fully green as well as more efficient than Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs). However, two major problems with BEVs are their short driving range and the limited service life of their costly batteries. Enhancing BEVs’ driving range and their batteries’ lifetime are possible through developing more effective energy management systems (EMSs) for them. This study proposes an optimal EMS for a BEV, the Toyota RAV4 EV, by considering the power flow between the energy consumers inside the vehicle. Dynamic programming (DP) is used to find an optimal power distribution between the vehicle drivetrain and the heating system for a standard driving cycle. A high-fidelity model of the vehicle in Autonomie is also employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the devised EMS. The results show that the proposed strategy can improve the battery health of the considered BEV.