Optimized Regenerative Friction Braking Distribution in an Electric Vehicle with Four In-Wheel Motors

Abstract

One of the most important features of electric vehicles (EV) is their ability to recover significant amounts of braking energy. The electric motors can be controlled to operate as generators in order to convert the kinetic or potential energy of the vehicle into electric energy that can be stored in the battery and then reused. In a hard braking manoeuvre, the braking torque is much larger than the torque that an electric motor can produce. So, mechanical friction braking systems have to coexist with electrical regenerative braking. In order to reach the target of a highly efficiency electric braking, authors have analyzed different strategies to find an optimized braking distribution between axles and between regenerative and friction braking, recovering a huge percentage of the available energy during braking manoeuvres.