Tomorrow’s Mobility

Sustainable Technologies for the automotive sector

Week 3 – Session 2 – Introduction to Hybrid Vehicles

Maria Thirouard – El Hadj Miliani

Introduction

I- What is a hybrid vehicle?

II- Advantages of hybrid vehicles
III- Operating phases of a hybrid vehicle

Conclusion

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Introduction
This lesson shows what hybrid vehicles are, how they are characterized and what their strengths
are. Finally, the typical operating phases of a hybrid drive train are explained.

I- What is a hybrid vehicle?

A conventional vehicle is propelled by a thermal engine using a single fossil-type energy source, like
gasoline, diesel fuel or natural gas (CNG).

Conventional Car

Transmission
Fuel Tank ICE

Mechanical path

An electric vehicle is propelled by an electric motor using a single electrochemical-type energy

source, like batteries or fuel-cells.
Electric Vehicle

Power Transmission
Control Unit Electric Machine

Electrical path
Mechanical path

In the context of automotive propulsion, a system with more than one type of energy source
onboard is called hybrid propulsion system.

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A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle which combines a thermal powertrain with an electric powertrain.
Hybrid vehicle propulsion is carried out by different combinations of an internal combustion engine
(ICE) and at least one electric motor.
Hybrid car

Power
Control Unit Electric Machine

Transmission
Generator Power Split
Device

Fuel Tank

ICE
Electrical path
Mechanical path

Note that there are two different sources of energy, and thus, two different storages of energy
because there are two different systems of propulsion.
Effectively, all this, the secondary storage and complex propulsion system, causes the extra cost of
hybridization in terms of weight as well as cost.
As one can imagine, a hybrid vehicle is composed of different parts, including the components of a
thermal and an electric powertrain.
Hybrid car

Power
Control Unit Electric Machine Weight

Transmission
Generator Power Split
Device

Cost

Fuel Tank

ICE

Source Storage System of propulsion

First, let’s look at the electric side:

There’s the battery or the energy storage device for electrical energy. Batteries in hybrid vehicles
are lighter and smaller than those in full electric vehicles because the thermal engine produces
most of the power to operate the vehicle.

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Then, there is an Electric Machine, or the Electric Motor Generator (EGM). The electric machine can
work as Generator or as a Motor. When working as a generator, it converts the mechanical energy
into electrical energy via a dedicated power electronics converter. This way, it is used to charge the
battery. When working as an Electric motor, the electric machine develops an electro-mechanical
torque to propel the vehicle by converting the electrical energy stored in the battery into
mechanical energy. Remember that the electric motor has a simple construction and generates
power almost instantaneously.
Lastly, there are the power electronics, which is at the heart of enabling the electric machine and
the battery system to work together.

ELECTRIC
SIDE

BATTERY ELECTRIC MACHINE POWER ELECTRONICS

Now, let’s look at the thermal side:

First, there is the fuel tank, or the storing device for chemical energy. It contains the fuel used for
the thermal engine to generate the mechanical torque to propel the vehicle.
Additionally, there is the combustion or thermal engine, that, as we saw before, is smaller, lighter
and cleaner than in conventional vehicles.

THERMAL
SIDE

FUEL TANK COMBUSTION ENGINE

For both, the electric motor and for the thermal engine, a control unit is needed. The control unit,
as the name suggests, is present to control the strategies that drive either the electric or the
thermal engine.

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 THERMAL ELECTRIC
SIDE SIDE

CONTROL UNIT

Last, the transmission must not be forgotten: It combines the torque of the combustion engine with
that of the electric motor to propel the vehicle by using advanced power split strategies.

THERMAL ELECTRIC
SIDE SIDE

TRANSMISSION

II- Advantages of Hybrid Vehicles

There are two main reasons behind the need to develop a new automotive industry to achieve
sustainable mobility:
1. Urban air quality: Engines use fuels to create energy, but at the same time, emit pollutants.
These pollutants lead to air pollution and health problems, and contribute to global warming. Since
resources are not going to lack in a close future, the major issue of the coming century is climate
change. Hybrid technology helps to reduce the pollutant emissions from the vehicle.
2. CO2 emissions are reflected directly in the efficiency of combustion engines. Hybrid vehicles are
here to increase the system efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of the transport
sector.

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 Why alternative propulsion?

1. Urban Air Quality 2. Improve the efficiency of engines

PM
UHC
CO2
CO2
H2O
Thermal Engine
CO N2

CO2
NOx

Hybrid Vehicle

Electric vehicles might be a good option regarding pollution, but there are still some issues to solve
before we can all drive an electric car. Compared to the electric vehicle, the hybrid provides higher
autonomy. This autonomy gives the user more flexibility and less inconvenience regarding the time
to recharge the battery.
Why Hybrid vehicle?

Hybrid Vehicle

Higher
autonomy

But how is that done?

In conventional vehicles, the thermal engine is designed to meet peak power demands, like when
you need to accelerate or to climb a hill. Of course, you need to be able to use your car in all
possible conditions, BUT in doing so the thermal engine works at an efficiency that is not optimal.
The efficiency of the thermal powertrain is very low and varies from 0% to up to 45% depending on
the operating conditions. (By the way, there are some videos about the thermal engines in the
additional resources that you can watch if you are interested in knowing more about the subject.)

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 Conventional vehicles

Efficiency of a thermal powertrain:

0% < < 45%

Back to HEVs. The main idea behind Hybrid Electric Vehicles is that, by adding an electric motor to
the thermal engine, the thermal engine can be designed to operate in more efficient conditions.
The thermal engine in HEVs is usually smaller, lighter and cleaner because it is designed to operate
at the average power needs.
Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Smaller

+
Lighter

Cleaner Operates at higher

efficiency

If extra boost of power is needed, for instance, to accelerate, it’s the electric motor that kicks in to
provide the extra-power needed.
So basically, when combining the two powertrains, we try to assemble a system that will work at a
higher efficiency, and higher efficiency means lower fuel consumption, lower CO2 emissions and
less pollutants overall.
Hybrid Electric Vehicles

UHC
PM
+ CO2 N2
CO H2O
NOx
Lower fuel Lower pollutant
Higher efficiency
consumption emission

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Operating phases of a Hybrid Vehicle
The electric motor and the thermal engine can either be used in tandem, OR each motor can be
used separately depending on the operating conditions.
We can distinguish 5 possible operating phases. For each phase, the way the hybrid powertrain
works is different since we try to combine the electric motor and the thermal engine to get the
most out the system.
 First, the Start-up phase requires a high torque at very low speed to overcome the inertia of
the vehicle; typically during this phase, it’s the electric motor that is used since it has a high
efficiency and because it can provide torque at near zero speed, which thermal engines
cannot do.
Start-up

Power
Control Unit Electric Machine

Transmission
Power Split
Device

Electrical path
Mechanical path

 After the start-up phase, the vehicle speed increases up to a point that is called Normal-
Cruising, where the demand for torque is stable. Here, the efficiency of the internal
combustion engine is optimal, and therefore it is used during this phase.
Normal cruising

Power
Control Unit Electric Machine

Transmission
Generator Power Split
Device

Fuel Tank

ICE

Electrical path
Mechanical path

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  If the demand for torque makes the engine work in a zone where the efficiency is not quite
optimal, we actually make the thermal engine provide a higher power than the one needed
for propulsion. Usually, increasing the power requested helps us reach the area of optimal
efficiency for the engine. The extra power developed by the internal combustion engine is
then used to charge the battery via the electric motor that operates as a generator.

 During the Acceleration phases, the two drivers – the thermal engine and the electric motor
– are used together. The idea is to have the maximum power to achieve acceleration, and
the electric motor, which can deliver a high torque immediately, is used in this phase to
boost the power of the vehicle, allowing fast acceleration.

 During the braking phase, the electric motor operates in the reverse mode (as a generator)
and develops a braking torque. This operation is known as regenerative braking, where the
kinetic energy of the vehicle is not lost in the form of heat, but converted into electrical
energy to charge the battery. It is clear that in this case the efficiency is improved. Indeed,
the regenerative braking helps use some energy that is otherwise lost as heat.
Braking – battery charging

Power
Control Unit

Generator Transmission
Power Split
Device

Fuel Tank

ICE

Electrical path
Mechanical path

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Conclusion
To sum up, the important things to remember are:

A hybrid electric vehicle or HEV is a vehicle that combines at least an electric motor and a thermal
engine. It combines the components of each and the advantages: lower pollutant emissions than
conventional vehicles and higher autonomy than electric vehicles.

The main advantage of HEVs is the improvement of the efficiency. This is possible because the
engine is optimally designed for average power demand, it works most of the time at optimal
efficiency and it can recover the energy normally wasted during braking and remove long engine
idling phases.

Hybrid vehicle performance

Optimally designed for the

average power need

Use of the thermal engine in the

optimal efficiency area

Enable the recovery of some

of the losses

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