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Improving the Range of Electric Vehicles

Conference Paper · October 2019

DOI: 10.1109/EV.2019.8892929

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 Improving the Range of Electric Vehicles
Parth Kadav
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States of America
parth.kadav@wmich.edu
Abstract — Electric Vehicles (EVs) are efficient, cheap
and emit less than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) that
are currently used. However, they lack giving out a good
range because current charging infrastructure doesn’t allow
them to do so. Many people consider EVs to be a gimmick
and not a real mode of daily commute because of their poor
range. To overcome these problems, solutions which can
improve their range significantly, are discussed. A solution to
improving the range will not be solved through the use of
any one technique, but through an integration of different
engineering practices.
Keywords — Electric Vehicles, Power sources, Charging
Infrastructure, Range extensions
I. INTRODUCTION
EVs are considered as the likely replacement of ICE
vehicles in the future of transportation [5]. But the
problem with them is that they have a limited range and
current charging infrastructure lacks to rectify this
problem.
Theoretically speaking, an ideal EV can get 150-200
miles on a single charge, but practically speaking, there
aren’t enough charging stations compared to gas stations.
This makes EVs less reliable and less convenient from a
consumer’s perspective and hence a solution is required to
rectify this problem. The purpose of this paper is to
research and investigate viable solutions to the problem.
This involves comparing the feasibility and viability of the
solutions. In this paper, three solutions will be discussed
in depth. By doing so we can figure out where we stand
currently and where to proceed in the research.
This paper will encourage the audience to invest,
research and come up with solutions for the problem.
Automobile engineers, EV manufacturers, mechanical
engineers and budding researchers will be the primary
audience for this paper.
Moreover, different solutions for improving the range
of the EVs will be considered. There will be no discussion
about the cost of the proposed solution. Feasibility will be
in terms of setting up the infrastructure and partially in
terms of cost.
The paper will begin by discussing current generation
of EVs, their features, weaknesses and the problems that
are preventing us from creating an efficient EV.
978-1-7281-0791-2/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
Zachary D. Asher
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Zach.Asher@WMich.edu
Then there will be an in-depth description of possible
solutions that can improve the range of EVs. Then there
will be a feasibility analysis followed by the
disadvantages of these solutions.
II. COLLECTED DATA: CURRENT GENERATION OF EVS
EVs are the future of transport, the industry is shifting
its focus from conventional combustion engines to motors
and hybrid vehicles. EVs have a lower running cost when
compared to ICE [1]. Even though EVs rectify most of the
drawbacks of ICEs, such as efficiency, cost and the
problem of emissions, they are still not perfect. One of the
main problems is the actual range of the vehicle. This,
followed by poor charging infrastructure, make EVs less
reliable and inconvenient.
A. Features of EVs
EVs are expected to be a key technology in improving
energy sustainability for tomorrow’s personal mobility
because electricity can be generated from various power
sources, including renewable energy like solar, wind,
geothermal etc. [2]. EVs are cheaper in the longer run
because producing and supplying electricity is cheaper
than gasoline. EV’s have significantly lower running costs
than ICE’s because of their higher total efficiency [1]. An
EV has fewer moving parts compared to an ICE, hence
frictional losses are less. EVs also reduce carbon
emissions hence reducing the carbon footprint. These are
a few main features of EV’s.
B. Weaknesses of EVs
The main problem with an EV has to do with its range.
According to [2] EVs have a limited range as they have to
be recharged periodically. Compared to refueling, the time
taken to recharge is much more, which doesn’t make it
consumer-friendly. A full charging cycle takes an average
of 1-2 hours, which is nearly 120 times more than the time
taken to refuel a car. Another problem has to do with the
current charging infrastructure. There aren’t enough
charging stations compared to gas stations. According to
[5], the current electrical grid infrastructure isn’t robust
enough to support additional energy demand of high-
power fast charging stations. This can also cause overload
conditions in the local circuits.
EV2019
III. SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE RANGE OF EVS
To keep up with the fast-paced industry, and make
EV’s consumer friendly, we should come up with
solutions that will help improve the range of an EV with a
considerable amount. These solutions include dynamically
charging the vehicle while the vehicles are moving and
thereby generally extending their cruising range. This will
also result in reduced range anxiety wherever such
infrastructure is available [2].
A. Wireless Power Transfer Technology Using Solar
Power
According to [2] this solution includes hardware such
as a transmitter and a receiver coil in order for the circuit
to work, the design of which is shown in Figure 1.
The requirements for the coil construction are referred
in Figure 1. The inductance (property of an electrical
conductor to induce electromagnetic force) and capacity
of the coil should meet the requirements, including the
working frequency (number of occurrences over a given
time) power transfer. The dimensions should be designed
to fit the body or the chassis. The coil should shield
electromagnetic waves from devices such as mobile
phones. Lastly the construction should be durable. If these
terms are met, the installation process will become
convenient and practical. These coils are installed in CAM
(Cement Asphalt Mortar) roads, which essentially are
separate lanes that house these coils for induction of
electricity.
This system works on the application of mutual
induction, 12 V are fed to battery by the solar panel, the
voltage in the battery is stored in and in turn is given to
the primary coil.
At the same time the battery is connected to the 7805
Voltage Regulator (VR). The regulator steps down the
voltage from 12V to 5V which is fed to an IR (Infra-red)
sensor. This IR sensor in turn becomes active when
something hits its rays and this sets off the output current,
which energizes the secondary coil (of the vehicle) by
inductive charging [2]. According to a test conducted by
[2], it shows that the coil power is transmitted wirelessly
and the induction is successful.
Solar
Battery
Primary Secondary
Rectifier
Panel Coil Coil
7805
IR
Sensor
PIC
Fig. 1. Schematic Diagram of wireless power transfer [2]
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a circular coil [2].
www.evshow.ro
Fig. 3. Electromagnetic induction transfer [5]
B. Dynamic Wireless Charging using Mobile Energy
Disseminators
In order to eliminate the problem of increasing an
EV’s range, researchers and industries have come up with
various solutions. One such solution includes DWC
(Dynamic Wireless Charging) using MED (Mobile
Energy Disseminators). According to [5] Hevo announced
a new technology in which manhole covers will be used as
charging stations in New York. Two OLEV (Online EV)
buses are programmed to take a route on which the busses
will charge during their commute, these have been put
into service on roads of Gumi, a city in Korea. The power
is transmitted through magnetic fields buried in the road
which are nothing but electric cables under the road’s
surface. These create magnetic fields which induce
electricity in the buses.
MED is a device which can give out energy /
electricity on the go. Energy exchange can be made
possible by IPT or inductive power transfer, this is
possible between the vehicles and installing a roadside
unit for dynamic wireless charging.
Buses and trucks can act as energy sources to EVs that
need charging. These vehicles from now on can be
referred to as MEDs. The buses can play the role of MEDs
as they follow a predefined scheduled route with a good
range and connectivity throughout the city.
Trucks could function the same on highways. Busses
can be fully charged when they are parked, prior to their
trip and continuously charged during their scheduled
journey by IPT stations installed at each bus stop. This is
more feasible as it is easier to install these features into
large public vehicles rather than individual passenger
Battery
Voltage vehicles.
Divider
DC Motor
This will work as followed, the vehicle requiring the
charge will approach the appropriate truck from the front
Driver IC PIC or the rear according to the construction.
The truck will provide the vehicle charge by
electromagnetic induction (production of electromotive
force), Tesla coils or by electrically plugging in the two
vehicles similar to mid-air refueling in airplanes. More
vehicles could join and create a cluster head.
Synchronization of the vehicles in the cluster will be
determined wirelessly and mainly controlled by the bus /
truck which acts as the main hub.
The electromagnetic subsystems include magnetic
coils which are similar to that as the primary and
secondary of a transformer. These will have loose
couplings and air as the medium to transfer the charge [5].
EV2019 www.evshow.ro
According to [5], this whole process can be executed
when each EV that needs energy checks whether MED is
on its route or not. Then it checks whether the charging
capability (CC) is high enough or not in order to cover its
needs. This is followed by sending a Co-operative
awareness message to the MED in order to ask for a
charging place. The EV then drives in front or behind the
MED for designated time in order to recharge on the go.
This can be either done by the V2V (Vehicle to
Vehicle) relay nodes or LTE (Long Term Evolution)
which basically serves as a medium to communicate
between the two vehicles. According to [5] the advantages
of the proposed solutions are high efficiency factor,
significant reduction of environmental pollution and
coverage of special needs in exceptional climatic
conditions or failure conditions.
C. Improving the inbuilt hardware and infrastructure
In [4] is mentioned that all EV’s have four main
building blocks which are a battery, DC to AC converter,
a motor and battery chargers. These main components
function as the building blocks to the overall structure of
the vehicle. We need to improve these components in-
order to make the vehicle better than the current iteration.
To take this argument further, in [4] the following
solutions are presented:
a) Improved Storage Technology
Lithium-ion batteries are currently the most popular
choices among charge storage as these are light and have
Fig. 4. Application example of MED EV recharges from bus using IPT higher capacities [4]. Ultra-capacitors can store the energy
and V2V relay nodes [5] for a short time but theoretically have an infinite number
of charge and discharge cycles. Another storage option is
Hydrogen fuel cells, they have higher energy densities,
many times higher than lithium ion batteries but have a
poor response time. Ultra-capacitors have a faster
response time but very low energy densities. Batteries can
provide high continuous power. If we combine the
benefits of all these storage technologies, overall
efficiency of the EV can be significantly improved.
b) Improvement in the Motor
The electric motor is at the heart of the EV [4].
According to [4], selecting the right motor for the drive
train is very important, which impacts the overall
efficiency of the drive. Correct magnet arrangements on
the rotor (moving part of the motor) should be evaluated
for better performance. Reducing the losses in the motors
can also contribute to the extension of range. There are
two main types of losses which are copper losses and iron
losses. If the make of the windings is improved, one can
reduce the overall losses and hence improve efficiency.
c) Using wind Energy to Increase the Driving
Range
A small wind turbine can be placed on the body of the
vehicle, this turbine in turn will be connected to the
battery. When the wind strikes the turbine, it can trickle
charge the battery during motion [4].
Fig. 5. Application example of MED EV recharges from bus using IPT Air flow
caused by
and LTE vehicle
Air
Generator
Vehicle
Turbine Battery
motion

Fig. 6. Air turbine used to charge the vehicle battery [4]

EV2019
Fig. 7. Portable roof setup [6]
This energy created by the turbine can be used in
conjunction with the ultra-capacitors for quick charge and
discharge cycles. This can also result in improving the
vehicles range. In [6] an iteration of the following
apparatus has been developed which is called as a
Portable Wind Power apparatus for EVs. This works on
the similar principal shown in Figure 6. The device
includes a wind turbine positioned on the vehicle’s roof
and a generator which is positioned within the vehicle that
connects the turbine and the power systems of the vehicle.
As shown in Figure 7, the setup can be used on the
roof of the vehicle to ensure maximum wind interaction.
This portable design also ensures flexibility in
manufacturing and ease of installation [6]. It also helps a
relatively aerodynamic design to reduce the drag on the
vehicle.
In [7] a similar approach is taken towards the solution
but with a different design. This new redesigned model
will allow airflow into the turbines which will be placed in
parallel with the air. This setup will include of two blades
for low solidity which will have the characteristics of a lift
type turbine and a high lift to drag ratio with efficiency
ranging from 0.4 to 0.45. This will also be used in
conjunction with a A.C. generator of 3 phase windings
with increased number of poles to charge and control the
battery. After various testing’s and simulations in [7] it
was found that the modified design will experience almost
the same amount of drag compared to our conventional
design but the turbines may give provision of some
additional energy which can offer benefits to the vehicle.
d) Impact of Driving Behaviour
In [4] is stated that driving style has a lot of impact on
the range of the vehicle. Driving range can be improved
by about 30% by following practices like reducing the
difference in acceleration and deceleration, avoiding high
and steep accelerations and by reducing aggressive
driving.
Fig. 8. 3D and isometric views of the model [7]
www.evshow.ro
This can be done by integrating necessary sensors, IoT
(Internet of Things) and machine learning in the vehicle to
reduce human error and improve efficiency.
IV. FEASIBILTY AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE SOLUTIONS
This section will check the feasibility of the solutions,
based on setting up infrastructure for them and partially in
terms of cost. Then, there will be a discussion of the
problems that each one of them has.
A. Feasibitly of the Solutions
First, evaluating the feasibility and working of the
wireless power transfer technology using solar, the
specifications of the coil should be specific and accurate.
The construction should be with the given materials and
according to the given guidelines.
Construction is pretty basic with CAM roads [2]. This
solution is moderately feasible as not much infrastructure
is needed other than some minor additions to the current
infrastructure. According to [5] making use of inductive
charging MED’s can mimic as portable charging stations
and thereby charging a fleet of vehicles. This solution is
pretty feasible as we just need to upgrade current busses
and trucks in order to meet the requirements of this
technology.
Lastly, according to [4] the driving range could be
significantly improved by advancing the storage
technology, improving the motor, using wind energy to
improve the range and efficient driving practices. As
stated in [6] the setup is made so that it can be
implemented on current vehicles as it is a portable device
and can installed or removed.
With more and more EVs coming in the future we
could see more portable and easier to install setups like
these in the market for the consumer. Among these
improvement in storage technologies has the highest
impact on the effective driving range. This is the most
feasible solution among all of them, companies and
researches just have to come up with better and efficient
versions of the current technology.
B. Disadvantages of the Solutions
For the first solution which is wireless power transfer
technology using solar, according to [2] the power
transmitter system should be carefully designed to obtain
proper power transfer efficiency and peak performance
and this can also lead to installation of a costlier
infrastructure. This reduces the practicality of the solution.
This is also difficult as producing and fitting this
technology in daily commute routes will involve a lot of
labor.
For the second solution of DWC using MED’s,
according to [5] dynamic charging of vehicle has impact
on a person’s health due to leaking magnetic flux
(continuous change). This solution is also pretty narrow as
it is planned to work for a typical urban scenario rather
than a broader topology. It has trade-offs such as wastage
of time and the distance travelled. Furthermore, the host
vehicles need to rely on the existing trucks and busses
rather than being independent and self-sufficient.
EV2019
Dynamic wireless charging has to deal with factors
like the velocity of the vehicle, distribution of
electromagnetic induction field and the initial cost [3].
These complicate the given solution.
There are not many disadvantages for the third
solution of improving the inbuilt hardware and
infrastructure as you are just improving the vehicle with
every new iteration, which happens with every new
vehicle that comes out. But as stated in [7] the wind
turbines may act as load for the vehicle which will
increase the drag as well as hinder with the aerodynamics
of the vehicle.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has examined what solutions are currently
viable in order to increase the range of EVs. There are
many more solutions that are being currently pursued by
researchers and engineers except these ones. The solutions
stated in this paper are a few of the prominent ones that
have a solid foundation and results.
These solutions which include solar technology,
MEDs and improving the current generation of EV’s
using improved hardware are the ones which are the most
practical and viable options with current infrastructure.
All of the three solutions are viable, each one has their
drawbacks. It is clear that integration of all of the
solutions will be the best to significantly improve the
range. The most feasible one of them is to improve the
current generation of EV’s using improved hardware. This
can be done with ease and won’t be costly.
It is strongly recommended that researchers and car
manufacturers implement these technologies with each
iteration of vehicles that come out in the market. EV’s are
the future as they are efficient, cheap and are eco-friendly
as they emit nearly zero compared to ICE’s.
View publication stats
www.evshow.ro
Producing electricity is cheaper too with renewable
options such as solar energy, wind energy and thermal
energy whereas petroleum is a fossil fuel which is not in
abundance.
Companies such as Tesla, BMW and Chrysler are
shifting focus from ICEs to EVs and thus influencing the
automotive industry. During this shift, newer technologies
that make EVs reliable and better than current generations
of vehicles should be implemented so that they become
consumer friendly and not just a gimmick.
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