Control-oriented energy-profiling and modelling of urban electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are attracting more and more attention as a means to reach the desired reduction in transport-induced greenhouse emissions. To ensure an effective energetic management of these vehicles, especially in urban areas, dedicated control strategies are needed that correctly deal with the constraints related to the battery usage while preserving a good driving feeling. A preliminary step for the design of an effective controller is to get a reliable model of the vehicle dynamics of interest and thorough understanding of the energy flows in the vehicle itself. To this end, this paper proposes a systematic way to perform an energy-profiling of urban EVs and addresses the modelling and identification steps needed to achieve a control-oriented description of the vehicle longitudinal dynamics. Validation results are provided from data measured on a light electric two-wheeled vehicle.