Integrated Dynamics Control and Energy Efficiency Optimization for Overactuated Electric Vehicles

A large number of studies have been conducted on the dynamics control of electric vehicles or on the optimization of their energy efficiency but few studies have looked at both of these together. In this study, an integrated dynamics control and energy efficiency optimization strategy is proposed for overactuated electric vehicles, where the control of both longitudinal and lateral dynamics is dealt with while the energy efficiency is optimized. First, considering the trade-off between control performance and energy efficiency, criteria are defined to categorize the vehicle motion status as linear pure longitudinal motion and non-linear motion or turning motion. Then different optimization targets are developed for different motion status. For the pure linear longitudinal motion and cornering motion, the energy efficiency and vehicle dynamics performance are equally important and a trade-off control performance between them needs to be achieved. For the non-linear turning motion, vehicle handling and stability performance are the primary concerns, and energy efficiency is a secondary target. Based on the defined targets, the desired longitudinal and lateral tyre forces and yaw moment are then optimally distributed to the wheel driving and steering torques. Finally numerical simulations are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. The simulation results show that the proposed strategies can provide good dynamics control performance with less energy consumption.