Evaluation of an electromechanical model for a Corbin Sparrow electric vehicle

An electromechanical model of a Corbin Sparrow, a small electric vehicle, is evaluated using a collection of experimental drive data. The vehicle´s stock electromechanical drive train and a custom-designed data logging system are presented, and the model equations and parameters are summarized. The experimental results demonstrate that the model can deliver promising accuracy when estimating the vehicle power versus time as a function of the vehicle´s velocity, acceleration, and vertical velocity. A single drive trip and a collection of drive trips are analyzed, and the model is shown to have a typical error range of approx. -5%/+20%. Statistics for the collected drive data are also provided, including the vehicle´s measured energy consumption per mile, motor efficiency, and motor controller efficiency. Finally, the Sparrow´s energy consumption is compared to that of electric vehicles tested by the US Department of Energy, and the Sparrow performance is predicted with installation of regenerative braking, a more efficient motor and controller, and a lithium-ion battery pack.