Powertrain Optimization for Electric Buses under Optimal Energy-Efficient Driving

Alexander Koch, Olaf Teichert, Svenja Kalt, Aybike Ongel and Markus Lienkamp
Additional contact information
Alexander Koch: Institute of Automotive Technology, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
Olaf Teichert: TUMCREATE Ltd., Singapore 138602, Singapore
Svenja Kalt: Institute of Automotive Technology, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
Aybike Ongel: TUMCREATE Ltd., Singapore 138602, Singapore
Markus Lienkamp: Institute of Automotive Technology, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: State of the art powertrain optimization compares the energy consumption of different powertrain configurations based on simulations with fixed driving cycles. However, this approach might not be applicable to future vehicles, since speed advisory systems and automated driving functions offer the potential to adapt the speed profile to minimize energy consumption. This study aims to investigate the potential of powertrain optimization with respect to energy consumption under optimal energy-efficient driving for electric buses. The optimal powertrain configurations of the buses under energy-efficient driving and their respective energy consumptions are obtained using powertrain-specific optimized driving cycles and compared with those of human-driven unconnected buses and buses with non-powertrain-specific optimal speed profiles. Based on the results, new trends in the powertrain design of vehicles under energy-efficient driving are derived. The optimized driving cycles are calculated using a dynamic programming approach. The evaluations were based on the fact that the buses under energy-efficient driving operate in dedicated lanes with vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication while the unconnected buses operate in mixed traffic. The results indicate that deviating from the optimal powertrain configuration does not have a significant effect on energy consumption for optimized speed profiles; however, the energy savings from an optimized powertrain configuration can be significant when ride comfort is considered. The connected buses under energy-efficient driving operating in dedicated lanes may reduce energy consumption by up to 27% compared to human-driven unconnected buses.

Keywords: energy-efficient driving; eco-driving; speed profile optimization; powertrain optimization; dynamic programming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6451/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/23/6451/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:23:p:6451-:d:457635

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().