MPC for a low consumption electric vehicle with time-varying constraints *

A multi-phase optimization problem in terms of consumption of an electric vehicle involved in the European Shell Eco-marathon race is formulated. An open-loop optimal driving strategy is derived. Next, a time-varying Model Predictive real-time controller is developed to track the optimal solution and to achieve the minimum consumption. The stability and the convergence of the time-varying Model Predictive controller is proved. The convergence is guaranteed despite the variation of the MPC constraints in time. An example emulating an actual race illustrates the effectiveness of the approach.