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Tomorrow's Mobility: Week 3 - Session 2 - Introduction To Hybrid Vehicles
Tomorrow's Mobility: Week 3 - Session 2 - Introduction To Hybrid Vehicles
Introduction
Conclusion
Conventional Car
Transmission
Fuel Tank ICE
Mechanical path
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.
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
ELECTRIC
SIDE
THERMAL
SIDE
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.