A regenerative controllable DC load for an electric vehicle test station

Programmable DC loads presently available on the market lack power reversal capability, which is an essential feature required for testing various topologies and power management algorithms for electric vehicle power trains. In this paper, a controllable DC load with regenerative capability is introduced and tested. It is shown through analysis and simulation that the proposed load can be controlled to emulate the drivetrain power requirements from the viewpoint of high-voltage DC bus, during any arbitrary drive-cycle consisting of periods of acceleration, cruising, deceleration and stopping. The proposed load has the potential of being incorporated in test stations for battery-electric and fuel cell-electric vehicles.