Sliding mode traction control of an electric vehicle with four separate wheel drives

This paper, presents a traction control algorithm for an electric vehicle (EV) with four separate wheel drives. This algorithm is necessary to improve the handling and stability of EV during cornering or under slippery road condition. It distributes the traction power among four drives and especially an independent torque reference on each wheel. The proposed algorithm is implemented in terms of a hierarchical architecture, which incorporates all new known vehicle systems ABS (anti-lock brake system), ASR (anti slip regulation), ESP (electronic stability program). To achieve good performances, a robust sliding mode control strategy is implemented. Several simulation results, which show the potential of such an algorithm, are presented.