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Study on improving electric vehicle drive range using solar energy

Conference Paper · June 2011

DOI: 10.1109/INECCE.2011.5953909

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International Conference on Electrical, Control and Computer Engineering
Pahang, Malaysia, June 21-22, 2011

Study on Improving Electric Vehicle drive range

using Solar Energy
Mohamad Azlan Hussin, Ahmed N. Abdalla, Ruhaizad Ishak, Rosmadi Abdullah, Zailini Mohd Ali
Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University Malaysia Pahang
Pekan26600, Malaysia
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract-- With emphasis on a cleaner environment and its controller. First, select suitable motor and its controller.
efficient operation, vehicles today rely more and more Second, develop solar panel controller. Finally, various tests
heavily on electrical power generation for success. The are performed on this proposed method. This research will give
objective of this project is to propose drive range a first-hand experience to the new and young researchers who
improvement for electric vehicle using solar energy. First, are interested in this kind of project. With this opportunity they
power consumption modeling based on Proton Savvy using would be able to expand and sharpen their technical knowledge
torque analysis to achieve 45mph vehicle top speed when especially on electrical vehicle (EV) system as well as
converted to electric vehicle. Second, for continuous improving their hands on skill on wide range of electrical
works.
battery charger three solar panel (each panel with 125W)
controllers had been developed. Finally, calculation, II. RELATED WORKS
analysis and various tests are performed based on Savvy
The first step in vehicle performance modeling is to write
technical specifications, energy consumption requirement
an equation for the electric force. This is the force transmitted
and vehicle movement using this proposed method. to the ground through the drive wheels, and propelling the
vehicle forward. This force must overcome the road load and
Keywords—Solar Energy ,electrical vehicle, control
accelerate the vehicle as shown in Fig.1
I. INTRODUCTION
With the oil price shocks of the past few decades, as well as
an increasing awareness of the emissions of air pollutants and
greenhouse gases from cars and trucks, the interest to
investigate alternative vehicle propulsion systems has grown.
With the continuous rapid economic development and the
approaching of cars entering families, an increasing possession
quantity of mobile vehicles are being achieved rapidly in our
country. Electric vehicles (EV) have such prominent
advantages as high efficiency, lower energy, low noise, zero
emissions, so EV have become the human energy and
environmental pressures to solve the most effective way.
However, the electric vehicle suffers from relatively short Figure1. Basic of forces on a vehicle
range and long charging times and consequently has not
become an acceptable solution to the automotive consumer [2]. For every moving vehicle, there are resistances that must be
taken into account during modeling a vehicle energy
In the present, more and more concerns have been paid to consumption such as are acceleration, rolling, aerodynamic,
design and development of electric vehicles, research activities climbing and wind resistances. These are the prime parameters
in the field of green transportation for the 21st century is going that are used to determine the size of motor that could supply
on [1]. In an all-electric vehicle (EV) there is no ICE, but all sufficient torque to run the vehicle. The road power demand
other components exist including batteries with excessive equation represents the energy consumption for a vehicle
power. One of the main contributions is that of Gokce [4], where power is dissipated as it travels down the road [8]. The
energy conservation and energy balance method is adopted. equation is given as:
The input-output feedback linearization technique combined
with an adaptive backstopping observer in stator reference Power = (Acceleration + Climbing + Rolling + Drag +
frame the induction motor [5] using in series hybrid electric Wind) resistance (1)
vehicle is controlled.
In this project, we planned to use the national car Proton Equation (2) shows the relation of torque to motor
Savvy as the test bed by replacing its petrol-based combustion horsepower.
engine with a motor based operated system and solar cell and Horsepower = FV/550 (2)

978-1-61284-230-1/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 373

Table 1 shows the operation of battery charger switching
Where horsepower is in Hp, F is force or torque in foot circuit.
pounds and V is vehicle speed in feet/sec. Table 1: Battery switching conditions
In order to calculate the needed rating power of a motor,
one must know the total amount of force that overcomes the
total resistances. Equation (3) to (7) gives the definition for
each type of resistance.

Acceleration resistance, Fa = CiWa (3)

Climbing resistance, Fh = W sin Ø (4)
Rolling resistance, Fr = Cr W cos Ø (5)
Drag resistance, Fd = Cd AV2 (6)
Wind resistance, Fw = CwFd (7)
where;
Ciis the mass factor that represents the inertia of vehicle’s
rotating masses
Cr is rolling resistance factor
Cd is drag coefficient of a vehicle IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Cw is relative wind factor
Table 2 summarizes the Proton Savvy specifications on
W is vehicle weight in pounds vehicle dimension, weight and internal combustion (ICE)
a is acceleration in mph/sec engine performance.
Ø is angle of incline
A is vehicle frontal area in square feet Table 2: Technical Specifications
V is vehicle speed in mph Dimensions(mm)
III. PROPOSED IMPROVED EV DRIVING RANGE Overall length 3710
For years the major problem for EV was limited driving Overall width 1643
range using current existing batteries. It really need a battery Overall height 1480
with higher energy density and thus lower weight, to obtain the Weight (kg)
result of better acceleration and longer travel distances Kerb weight 975
between charging. The best candidate in the market today is Power train
Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries with the advantages of high
cell voltage and superior energy density, low self-discharge Engine 4cyclinder,16V SOHC
rate and no memory effect. However overcharging and over Maximum power 55
discharging problems of Li-ion batteries require accurate (kW)@5500 rpm
voltage monitoring and protection circuit; otherwise the cycle Maximum torque (Nm) 105
life will be greatly reduced. @4250rpm
Part of this project study a novel method to improve EV
driving range using solar energy as shown in Figure 2. The Based on the previous successful research conducted on
study shows that Malaysia has a good solar electricity potential electric vehicle, we select Azure Dynamic AC24 induction
based on its meteorological conditions. Although the current motor for this research. Table 3 shows the motor specifications.
price of Photovoltaic (PV) panel is not cheap at the moment,
market trend shows that it is continuously decreasing. Table 3: Azure Dynamic AC24 Specification
Motor winding configuration 156VDC delta

Peak torque Nm 75

Continuous Torque Nm 4000 RPM

Nominal Speed Rpm 4000

Maximum Speed Powered Rpm 11000

Maximum Mechanical Speed Rpm 12000

Maximum Current A DC 240

Figure 2: The additional proposed solar charging circuit Continuous Power kW 13

Note: V1 to V19 is a lead acid battery.
Peak Electrical Power kW 37

374
Table 5: Torque Available without Solar cell
Motor Wheel Vehicle
Motor Motor
torque Torque Speed
Current(A) RPM
(Nm) (Nm) (mph)
58 6.27 11000 68.47 68.07
64 7.74 10000 84.52 61.88
77 9.59 9000 104.72 55.69
89 12.54 8000 136.94 49.50
109 16.96 7000 185.20 43.32
141 27.29 6000 298.01 37.13
180 40.56 5000 442.92 30.94
205 53.1 4000 579.85 24.75

From the data tabulated in Table 4 and 5, a graph of torque

Figure 4: Block diagram for EV controller without solar cell changer
versus speed is plotted as shown in Figure 5.
By using the modeling equations, we performed some
calculations to facilitate the system components selection as
well as to predict the outcome of our Proton Savvy conversion.
The target for this project is to propel the EV car in the range of
speed between 40 to 50mph and 60 to 80km/h on a level
surface. Shown in Table 4 is the amount of torque required to
drive the Savvy at different level of speed.

Table 4: Torque Required for at Different Vehicle Speeds

Vehicle speed
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
(mph)

Still air drag

force (lbs)
1.38 5.52 12.4 22.1 34.53 49.72 67.67 Figure 5: Torque required versus torque available
Relative wind
factor,Cw 1.13 0.37 0.21 0.138 0.103 0.082 0.067
Relative wind
drag force
(lbs) 1.56 2.07 2.56 3.05 3.56 4.08 4.53
Total drag
force (lbs)
41.65 46.29 53.69 63.85 76.78 92.50 110.9

Convert mph
to feet/sec
14.6 29.3 44 58.6 73.33 88 102.6
Vehicle wheel
rpm
134.7 269.3 404.0 538.7 673.3 808.0 942.7

Total drag
torque (ft-lbs)
43.32 48.14 55.84 66.40 79.85 96.20 115.4
Total drag
torque (Nm) Figure 6: The relation between efficiency and Torque under difference speed
58.67 65.2 75.62 89.92 108.14 130.28 156.22

While shown in Table 5 is the amount of torque available from

the AC motor to propel the Savvy at different speed.

375
[8] Bower, G.R., et.al., Design of a Charge Regulating, Parallel Hybrid
Electric Future Car, SAE Publications February 1998, SAE980488.

Figure 7: The relation between efficiency and Torque under difference speed
with solar cell

The existing solar panel has the capability to produce

maximum of 125W per hour. With the dimension of existing
Motorized Battery Operated Vehicle (MBOV), the possible
number of solar panel on top of the vehicle is three. Mean that
total the power produce by the solar panel is only 375W per
hour.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper has highlighted the power consumption
modelling using torque equivalent. The study has suggests that
79.85 pounds feet or 108.14 Nm of torque required to drive
MBOV at 50mph. By using Azure Dynamic AC24 Induction
motor, it seems that it produces 101 pounds feet or 136.94Nm
torque and this amount of torque is sufficient enough to drive
the vehicle at the required speed. The MBOV currently using a
40 KW induction motor and the energy is supply by the 13
units of 12V lead acid battery. From experimental result
calculation show that three units of solar panel can only
contribute nearly 2 % of the total power consumption of the
induction motor. The practical solution for this problem is to
use a very simple and lighter body structure for EV, instead of
using MBOV (Proton SAVVY). Lighter body needs smaller
motor to run and less power consumption.
REFERENCES
[1] C. C. CHAN, “The State of Art of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles”,
Proceedings of IEEE, vol. 90, no. 2, Feb. 2002.
[2] ELIT1 – Seri Hibrit Elektrikli Araç, TUBITAK MRC Energy Institute,
Research Project and Technical Report, 2002.
[3] O. TUR, “Hibrit Elektrikli Araç Güç Sisteminin Simülasyonu”, Master
Thesis, Institute of Science and Technology, Istanbul Technical
University, Istanbul 2004
[4] C. GOKCE, “Modeling and Simulation of a Series Parallel Hybrid
Electrical Vehicle”, Master Thesis, Institute of Science and Technology,
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 2005.
[5] R. Yazdanpanah, A. Farrokh Payam: Direct Torque Control of An
Induction Motor Drive Based on Input-Output Feedback Linearization
Using Adaptive Backstepping Flux Observer, Proc. 2006 AIESP Conf.,
Madeira, Portugal.
[6] S. Sadeghi, J. Milimonfared, M. Mirsalim, M. Jalalifar: Dynamic
Modeling and Simulation of a Switched Reluctance Motor in Electric
Vehicle, in Proc., 2006 ICIEA Conf.
[7] C. Gokce, O. Ustun, M. Yilmaz, R. N. Tuncay, “Modelling and
Simulation of Series Parallel Hybrid Electrical Vehicle”, ELECO’05,
Int. Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bursa, 2005.

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