A Project Report

On

Expert EV/HEV Prime-Mover Selection System (EXPEVER)

BY

Devansh Dhrafani

2017B5A41569H

Under the supervision of

Dr Srinavasa Prakash Regalla

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

ME F376: DESIGN PROJECT

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE PILANI (RAJASTHAN)

HYDERABAD CAMPUS

(November 2020)

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I express my gratitude to the design project supervisor Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla,
Professor & Dean, Department of Mechanical Engineering for his constant guidance,
encouragement and support during the entire course of this project work. I also thank him
for introducing me to this exciting field of Electric Vehicles.

I thank Dr. Amrita Priyadarshini, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

for being the examiner of my project work and for giving some valuable suggestions.

I thank the Instructor-in-charge of Design Projects, Head of Mechanical Engineering and the
Director of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, for providing me with the opportunity to pursue
this Design Project.

Thanks also are due to Avni Jain with whom I jointly worked in this project.

Sincerely,

Devansh Dhrafani

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 Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani,

Hyderabad Campus

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “Expert EV/HEV Prime-Mover Selection

System (EXPEVER)” submitted by Mr Devansh Dhrafani (2017B5A41569H) in partial

fulfilment of the requirements of the course ME F376, Design Project Course, embodies the

work done by them under my supervision and guidance.

Date: Dr Srinavasa Prakash Regalla

BITS- Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

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 ABSTRACT

Electric Vehicles are on the verge of becoming a mass-market product. Major car

manufacturers have started electrifying their existing products. This transition creates new

challenges and demands swift innovation in the development process. It has become

increasingly necessary for engineers to have a tool to assist in the selection of critical

prime-mover parts like Battery and Motors. Such a tool can help significantly cut down

design time for standard EV/HEV part specifications. Expert EV/HEV Prime-mover Selection

System (EXPEVER) is an intelligent selection system for EV/HEV prime-mover parts. The

software takes vehicle parameters from the user and, using a knowledge base consisting

of closed-form equations, experimental data, and ML techniques, supplies key prime-

mover part specifications like battery and motor specs.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2

CERTIFICATE 3

ABSTRACT 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

OBJECTIVE 6

FRAMEWORK 7

VEHICLE PARAMETERS 8

BATTERY PARAMETERS 10

MOTOR PARAMETERS 12

MATLAB AppDesigner 16

RELATIONSHIP MATRIX 17
Battery(B)-Vehicle(V) Parameters 17
Motor(M)-Vehicle(V) Parameters 18

CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK 19

GLOSSARY 19

REFERENCES 21

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 OBJECTIVE

The project aims “To design and construct an intelligent electric battery & motor
selection module for EVs and HEVs using Matlab GUI“

● Identity the prime-mover selection parameters for battery and motor.

● Compile the list of all vehicle parameters that affect the selection of battery and motor.

● Prepare a relationship matrix for battery and motor selection parameters and vehicle
parameters

● Program in Matlab GUI an "Expert EV/HEV Prime-mover Selection System(EXPEVER)

Version Beta: Users must supply the values of the vehicle parameters. The EXPEVER
module will apply the predetermined relationships and output the battery and motor
specifications.

Version Alpha: Same as version Beta plus the additional feature that users may supply the
values of those vehicle parameters that they know, the EXPEVER will supply the remaining
from a dummy and limited knowledge-base and using machine learning.

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 FRAMEWORK

The general framework of EXPEVER is as described in the accompanying figure. The USER
specifies interacts with EXPEVER using the MATLAB AppDesigner GUI. User supplies desired
Vehicle Specifications(Vi) using the GUI interface. These parameters are sent to “EXPEVER
Expert”, which is responsible for accessing the Knowledge Base to determine the respective
Battery(Bj) and Motor(Mk) Specifications. The Knowledge Base consists of (a) Existing closed
form equations, (b) Experimental Data, (c) Alternate Methods relating Vi-Bj, Vi-Mk. After
accessing the Knowledge base and determining required Bj, Mk parameters, the EXPEVER
expert sends these back to the MABLAB AppDesigner GUI to output these to the user.

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 VEHICLE PARAMETERS

Vehicle parameters are the inputs that a user gives to EXPEVER. These parameters are chosen
for their simplicity with the assumption that a typical car customer is aware of and will look for
these specifications when making a purchase.

Mass of the vehicle:

The mass of the EV has a major effect in structuring the motor and battery specifications.

Heavier the vehicle, more power will the motor need to run, leading to more battery

consumption.

Seating Capacity:
Seating capacity determines the size of the vehicle, and the extra load that it is supposed to

take. It further helps to determine the motor power required, battery energy density and size.

Type of cycle :
Battery and motor specifications are calculated under the conditions of maximum

requirement of user power, that is when the vehicle is being driven at its maximum speed.

However, most of the time, the EV is expected to run at a wide range of operating points

(torques and speed values). In urban areas, where the EV has maximum use, the speed of the

EV is quite less than the speed for which the vehicle has been designed. This leads to very low

energy efficiency of the motor.

Range:

Range of an EV is the distance an electric vehicle can travel before the battery needs to be

recharged.

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Ambient Temperature:
The ambient temperature is the temperature where the EV is going to be operated at most

times. High temperatures prevailing in India is one reason EVs have not been as successful as

they have been in western countries. Average temperature during summers peak to high

temperatures, so at higher charging and discharging rates temperature reaches way beyond

the optimum mark, resulting in poor performance. Many batteries tend to perform poorly in

cold weather conditions as well.

Max Speed:
Maximum speed, literally, means the highest speed the EV is capable of reaching and running

without failure. The motor is designed keeping this in mind. However,it should also be noted

that EV will rarely/ or never run at this speed.

Acceleration:

The time taken for 0-100 kmph is a standard benchmark for any vehicle selection. This

specification is important because it lets the user know about the pickup/acceleration of the

vehicle. For EV/HEVs especially, acceleration is an important specification because electric

motors provide steeper acceleration curves compared to traditional IC engines.

Vehicle type:
Every user’s needs are different. The vehicle type determines the space, weight available for

battery/motors, torque requirements, etc. Vehicle types include:

Sedan/SUV/Hatchback/Pickup/Station Wagon/etc.

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 BATTERY PARAMETERS

Battery selection is a crucial design choice. The designer needs to make several compromises
between specifications like less weight, more power, performance, high energy density, long
lifetime and low price.

Some important Battery parameters are listed below. It’s important to note that some of
them, like self-discharge and cost are minimization type attributes whereas others need to be
maximized for optimal performance.

Battery pack should get charged quickly but discharge rate should be less.

Specific Energy:

Specific energy is the amount of electrical energy stored per unit battery mass.

Energy density:

Energy density is the amount of electrical energy stored per unit volume. This essentially
means that the higher the energy stores/transported in the same volume, the higher the
energy density.

Electrical efficiency:

The ratio of electrical energy output by a battery to the amount of input energy consumed to
run it before it discharges.

Self-discharge rate:

The phenomenon when batteries discharge when not in use is called self discharge. The
discharge rate depends on battery type and temperature. It is a consequence of unwanted
chemical actions within the cell.

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Energy/cycle:

The energy delivered per cycle has a significant impact on choosing a battery. This parameter
should be maximized so that the EV can run longer for one full battery cycle.

Nominal Voltage:

Electrical batteries are designed to work with a nominal voltage. It is the average voltage a
cell outputs when charged. It depends on the chemical reactions inside it.

Cost:

Includes cost (purchase) of battery. Installation charges plus lifetime cost of batteries may
vary. Different batteries need different types of chargers to charge it; resulting in a cost
difference.

Durability:

The number of charge-discharge cycles defines the durability of the battery. It also decides
the life of the battery and performance duration.

Battery type:

Possible battery types include: Lead-acid battery, Nickel-Cadmium Battery, Nickel-Metal

Hydride Battery, Lithium-ion battery.

Type of cooling:

Electric components like batteries generate a lot of heat, especially when running at high

currents. Charging of batteries also causes the battery to heat up. To protect the battery and

have good durability, it's necessary to have appropriate cooling solutions in the EV/HEV. Some

cooling methods that are currently being used are: (a) Phase Change Materials, (b) Cooling

Fins, (c) Air Cooling, (d) Liquid Cooling. The selection of cooling systems will depend on several

factors like the target battery temperature, ambient conditions, weight/volume requirement

of the vehicle, etc.

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 MOTOR PARAMETERS

Motor selection is the prime focus of any EV designer. The designer is again forced to make
compromises like less weight, more power, efficiency, cost, speed of motor, etc. Some of the
key motor parameters that should be identified are as follows:

Type of Motor (Induction/BLDC/DC/SRM):

1. Induction motor (IM):

An Induction motor works on the principle of induction. The electromagnetic field is

induced in the rotor when a rotating magnetic field from the stator intersects the rotor

which is stationary. It is a three phase AC motor and has a simple but rugged

construction; it is cheap and requires low maintenance. One major advantage is that

it does not need any additional starting motor.

2. Permanent Magnet Brushless DC motor (PM BLDC):

A brushless DC motor uses one (or more) permanent magnets in the rotor, and

electromagnets in the stator. It has a mechanically simpler design than that of a

brushed motor. This is because a BLDC removes the complexity involved in

transmitting power to the spinning rotor from outside the motor. It is preferred

because of its long life, little maintenance, and comparatively higher efficiency. The

disadvantages include complicated motor speed controllers, and high initial cost.

3. Direct Current motor (DC):

A direct current (DC) motor is one of the simplest types of electric motors which

converts electrical energy (via direct current) into rotational mechanical energy.

Magnetic fields that are generated due to the electrical currents, power the

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 movement of the rotor which is fixed within the output shaft. The output

characteristics, that includes torque and speed, depends on the electrical input and

design of the motor.

4. Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM):

A switched reluctance motor (SRM) runs by reluctance torque, i.e the torque
generated when the motor is moving to a position where reluctance, as seen by
the armature flux, is decreasing. Unlike a brushed DC motor, power is delivered to
coil windings in the stator, not the rotor. As a result, the mechanical design is

simplified as power is not delivered to a part in motion. However, this increases the

complexity of the electrical design as a switching mechanism needs to be

incorporated to deliver power.

Max Torque (Nm):

Torque is the rotating force generated by the electric motor. Motor torque is responsible for
moving the vehicle from standstill and also on inclines. Maximum torque helps us identify the
upper bound of torque required by the vehicle.

Power (kW):

For any electric motor, power is it’s speed times torque. Having a higher power means the
vehicle will be able to climb faster on inclined roads.

Max Voltage (V):

As with any electric device, the motor required some specified Voltage to run at required

Speed. The motor draws maximum voltage when being operated at its maximum rated

power.

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Rated Speed (rpm):

Speed of any motor is expressed in revolutions per minute or rpm. For Electric Motors, we

have 2 different types of speeds: no-load speed and rated speed.

No-Load speed, as the name suggests, is the speed at which the motor runs under no external

load. Thus, No-Load speed is also the maximum speed of the motor.

But, a more interesting and perhaps practical measure of speed for a motor is the rated

speed. The Rated Speed is the speed at which the motor produces the maximum power. This

metric is much more useful as it takes into account the torque of the motor, thus considering

the motor operating conditions under load, which is the case for any practical purposes.

Efficiency (%):

The efficiency of an electric motor is the ratio of mechanical (output) power given by the

motor to the electrical power (input) given to the motor.

Cost (INR):

Cost of the battery includes motor price, plus installation cost. Maintenance charges could

also be added.

Mass (kg):

Mass of the motor would depend on the type of motor used, and other specifications. It also

has an effect on the mass of the vehicle.

Type of cooling:

An electric motor generates a lot of heat due to friction, resistance, etc. If the motor is

operated at high temperatures for a sustained period, it may seriously affect its durability.

The motor might also overheat, which will require the driver to slow down the vehicle in order

to cool the motor. Thus, an adequate cooling solution is required depending on the motor

operating conditions.

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Number of motors required:

This parameter is complicated as it will depend on the type of drive train system that is chosen

by the EV designer. The drivetrain of a motor vehicle is the group of components that deliver

power to the driving wheels. There are basically six types of drive train systems from which

the designer can choose to adopt anyone:

1. Conventional type drivetrain system: the IC engine is replaced directly by an electric

motor.

2. Transmission-less drivetrain system: transmission from the conventional type system

is removed.

3. Cascade-Motors drivetrain system: Differential gear is removed. Two motors are

installed body side on the rear wheels.

4. In-Wheel drivetrain system with reduction gears: Simplified version of cascade motor

system. The motors are separated with separate gear systems for each wheel.

5. In-Wheel Direct-Drive drivetrain system: Two Rear Motors are attached directly to the

wheels, thus removing any need for gears.

6. Four-Wheel drivetrain system: Same as above, but instead of 2, all 4 wheels have

attached motors. In this system, an electric steering wheel needs to be included.

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 MATLAB AppDesigner

A key component of any user-centric software is the Graphical User Interface (GUI). We chose

MATLAB AppDesigner as the GUI tool for EXPEVER, purely based on the ease of use and

integration with other MATLAB toolkits. The AppDesigner has a simple user interface for

arranging and configuring the GUI. There are convenient developer tools like callback

functions, component library, and code editor. Mathworks has also created helpful

documentation in the form of getting started guides and youtube videos.

This is the current design for the EXPEVER GUI:

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 RELATIONSHIP MATRIX

There are a lot of parameters to find relations for. To simplify the process, a relationship
matrix between Vehicle Parameters and Battery/Motor parameters was constructed. The
Relationship Matrix helps us identify the existent/non-existent relationships between various
parameters. This will be of aid later when we try to populate the knowledge base with closed-
form equations, experimental data, and other methods to relate the parameters.

Battery(B)-Vehicle(V) Parameters

● V1: Mass of the vehicle (kg)

● V2: Seating Capacity (# of passengers)
● V3: Type of cycle: Urban/rural
● V4: Range (km)
● V5: Ambient Temperature (°C)
● V6: Max Speed (km/hr)
● V7: Acceleration (time for 0-100 kmph)
● V8: Vehicle Type (Hatchback/Sedan/SUV/etc.)

● B1: Specific Energy (Wh/kg)

● B2: Energy density (Wh/L)
● B3: Electrical efficiency (percentage)
● B4: Self discharge rate (percent/month)
● B5: Energy/cycle (Wh)
● B6: Nominal voltage (V)
● B7: Cost (INR)
● B8: Durability (#Cycles)
● B9: Battery Type (Li-ion/Ni-MH/etc)
● B10: Type of Cooling

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 Motor(M)-Vehicle(V) Parameters

● V1: Mass of the vehicle (kg)

● V2: Seating Capacity (# of passengers)
● V3: Urban/rural
● V4: Range (km)
● V5: Ambient Temperature (°C)
● V6: Max Speed (km/hr)
● V7: Acceleration (time for 0-100 kmph)
● V8: Vehicle Type
(Hatchback/Sedan/SUV/etc.)

● M1: Type of Motor

(Induction/BLDC/DC/SRM)
● M2: Max Torque (Nm)
● M3: Power (kW)
● M4: Max Voltage (V)
● M5: Rated Speed (rpm)
● M6: Efficiency (%)
● M7: Cost (INR)
● M8: Mass of motor (kg)
● M9: Number of motors required (2/4)
● M10: Type of cooling

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 CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK

After a comprehensive literature review of working and selection of key EV/HEV prime-mover
parts like battery and motor, a list of standard input vehicle parameters was identified.
Important output parameters required for selection of battery and motors were then listed.
A relationship matrix was then constructed between battery-vehicle and motor-vehicle
parameters. Finally, a Graphical User Interface for the EXPEVER was designed using the
MATLAB AppDesigner software.

Future work includes coding closed form battery-vehicle and motor-vehicle relations in
MATLAB. For non-existing relations, it was proposed to use ML techniques for finding
relations from existing vehicle data.

For a project like EXPEVER, Machine Learning techniques are not only helpful, but required.
There will always be some parameters for which closed form equations are not possible to
model. For such cases, machine learning techniques like regression models can be trained
from existing data to predict output parameters Bj,Mk from input vehicle parameters Vi.

Another place where ML can be used is for the EXPEVER Expert. The EXPEVER Expert has to
make many decisions about which module to use from the knowledge base for calculation of
each Battery/Motor Parameter. This process can be tedious to hardcode. A better approach
could be to use Machine Learning techniques like Decision Trees for making such decisions.
The training data for these decision trees can be the Relationship Matrix that was constructed
earlier.

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 GLOSSARY

EV: Electric Vehicle

HEV: Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Vi: Vehicle parameters

Bj: Battery parameters
Mk: Motor parameter

GUI: Graphical User Interface

ML: Machine Learning

BLDC: Brushless DC Motor

SRM: Switched Reluctance Motor
IM: Induction Motor

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 REFERENCES

● Panday, A., & Bansal, H. o. (2016). Multi-Objective Optimization in Battery Selection

for Hybrid Electric Vehicle Applications. Journal of Electrical Systems, 12(2), 325-343.

● EV Specifications. (n.d.). EV Specifications. EV Specifications.

https://www.evspecifications.com/

● EV Database. (n.d.). EV-Database. ev-database.org. https://ev-database.org/

● Koniak, M., & Czerepicki, A. (n.d.). Selection of the battery pack parameters for an

electric vehicle based on performance requirements. IOP Conference Series

Materials Science and Engineering, 211(1), 012005. 10.1088/1757-899X/211/1/012005

● Wikipedia. (n.d.). Electric vehicle. Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle

● Heimes, H.H., Kampker, A., Haunreiter, A. et al. Product-requirement-model to

approach the identification of uncertainties in battery systems development. Int J

Interact Des Manuf 14, 911–922 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-020-00666-9

● 10 things to consider when choosing an electric motor | Dana TM4

● The Many Types of EV Motors, Edis Osmanbasic posted on May 25, 2020:
https://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/2
0293/The-Many-Types-of-EV-Motors.aspx
● X. D. Xue, K. W. E. Cheng and N. C. Cheung, "Selection of eLECTRIC mOTOR dRIVES for
electric vehicles," 2008 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference,
Sydney, NSW, 2008, pp. 1-6.
● Porselv, T., Ashok, J., & Kumar, A. (2017). Selection of Power Rating of an Electric
Motor for Electric Vehicles.
● Xue, X.D. & Cheng, K.W.E. & Cheung, N.C.. (2009). Selection of eLECTRIC mOTOR
dRIVES for electric vehicles. 1 - 6.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224400819_Selection_of_eLECTRIC_mOTO
R_dRIVES_for_electric_vehicles

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