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2015-26-0110
Published 01/14/2015
Copyright © 2015 SAE International and Copyright © SAEINDIA
doi:10.4271/2015-26-0110
saecomveh.saejournals.org

Development and Analysis of an Electric Vehicle Controller for LCV

Balaji Balasubramanian
Ashok Leyland, Ltd.

ABSTRACT
This paper describes the system architecture together with control and diagnostics features of an indigenously developed electric
vehicle controller for Light Commercial Vehicle. The key functions of vehicle controller include power management, driveline
controls, regeneration and vehicle mode controls. In particular this paper presents vehicle's operational strategy in economy, normal
and performance modes based on the vehicle speed and SOC. It also has feature to enable vehicle operation in reduced performance
mode at low battery voltages. The battery fault predictor algorithm is also described in detail that is used to control discharge current to
prevent sudden dip in SOC and to increase battery life. The vehicle control strategy is modeled & simulated using MATLAB™
environment and results for a specific test case are validated with embedded controllers-in-the-loop in a test-bench environment. The
electric vehicle controller is implemented with a fully integrated Battery Management System, motor controller and other auxiliary
subsystems. The test-track results of electric vehicle driven in different operating modes are analyzed for the performance metrics. The
results of three stages of development namely the simulation, test-bench validation and vehicle performance are presented.

CITATION: Balasubramanian, B., "Development and Analysis of an Electric Vehicle Controller for LCV," SAE Int. J. Commer. Veh.
8(1):2015, doi:10.4271/2015-26-0110.

INTRODUCTION VEHICLE CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE

The environmental impact of the petroleum-based transportation
infrastructure, along with the depletion of fossil fuels, has led to
renewed interest in an electric transportation infrastructure. The
stringent emission norms keep pushing the vehicle manufacturers to
move towards the sustainable electric mobility.
The electric vehicle controller is the crucial element of the electric
vehicle design, as it influences vehicle operation and performance
[2]. Since this also function as power management module, its proper
design helps in improving the energy efficiency of the vehicle.
The overall architecture of vehicle controller is shown in Figure1.
The vkehicle controller gets driver inputs (like accelerator pedal,
brake pedal and shifter inputs), feedback signals from modules such
as analog & digital inputs, etc. It communicates via CAN to modules
such as Battery Management System (BMS), motor controller,
Universal Cluster (instrument) Controller (UCC) and Electronic
Shifter Control.

It acts as a supervisory unit to control all modules in the vehicle. It

has the intelligence to make logical decisions for better control and
safety of the vehicle.

The main two functions are vehicle level controls such as vehicle
sequencing control, power distribution control, diagnostics, Motor
controller sequencing, instrument cluster controls etc., and propulsion
control functions such as regeneration, shifter safety logics,
acceleration control etc.

The paper describes in detail the vehicle controller strategy model

developed in MATLAB™ environment and the simulation results are
compared with the test bench setup results for a standard drive cycle.

The vehicle controller validated in test bench environment is installed

in the LCV and tested for vehicle's performance measurement. The
Figure 1. Overall architecture of vehicle controller
vehicle level test results are presented. It also discusses different
operating modes of the vehicle such as performance mode, energy
efficient mode, and reduced performance mode.

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System Controls
The system control module is responsible for vehicle level functions
such as vehicle start sequencing, controlling high-voltage power
distribution, system diagnostics, Motor controller sequencing and
other small functions like chime, reverse buzzer etc. Here motor
control sequencing, stop-start feature and shifter safety logic are
discussed in detail.
Vehicle Power ON Sequencing and Diagnostics
Vehicle sequencing ensures the proper powering up the vehicle to
ensure the safety. Before enabling the modules health of the modules
should be ensured. For example, before power up the DC-DC
convertor, the BMS system should be healthy. If not the diagnostic
LED will blink in pattern to indicate the cause for the fault.
Motor Controller Sequencing
The state machine as in Figure 2 shows proper enabling of motor
controller in sequence. The system operates in different operating states
such as disabled, ready, enabled and power down. The sequencing also
involves intermediate wait states to account for CAN command delay
or hardware delays. (T0-T10) are state transition conditions.
Figure 2. State diagram of motor controller sequencing
Shifter Safety Feature
The Shifter safety logic feature enables safety functions like Brake
pedal must be pressed for changing state of the shifter. It also forbids
the fault case inputs like reverse shift while vehicle is moving in
forward direction and vice versa. The shifter logic model is
developed in Simulink/State flow.
Stop-Start Feature
The stop-start feature enables the system to save the energy during
idling. It switches off the auxiliary subsystem during idling. The
conditions for idling being shifter in neutral and vehicle is standstill.
Power during idling without stop-start is 1.02kW. With this feature,
the auxiliaries consume 510 W during idling. Thus the stop-start
feature saves 48% of energy compared to idling without stop-start.
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Propulsion Controls
The propulsion control is the sub module of vehicle controller. It is
responsible for calculating the motor torque commands to the motor
controller. Figure 3 shows the overall block diagram of the Propulsion
control. The mode selector is responsible for selecting the mode of the
vehicle. It assigns high priority for brake pedal to ensure safety.
The acceleration control module takes care of accelerator pedal input
from the driver. The brake control module takes care of accelerator
pedal input from the driver.
Figure 3. Block diagram of propulsion controller
Accelerator Control Module
The Accelerator Control Module (ACM) commands the motor
controller for propulsion torque based on driver input through
accelerator pedal and feedback signals from drive (speed, torque
signals) and battery system (SOC, discharge limits, etc.).
It is pre-programmed with the motor speed torque curves to calculate
the available torque from the motor at any instant. This module
operates the vehicle in different optimized modes such as
performance mode, energy efficient mode and reduced performance
mode etc. The detailed functionalities of the operating modes and its
results will be explained in later section of the paper.
The instantaneous battery power limit is calculated based on the
available state of charge (SOC), discharge current limit (DCL), and
pack voltage of the High Voltage Battery (HVB). The torque is
calculated considering both HVB limit and drive system limit.
Figure 4 shows the Simulink model of the Accelerator control module.
Figure 6 shows the torque limit of motor and battery limited
torque, for a part of standard urban LCV drive cycle. The overlap
of the torque request and battery limit shows the hitting of battery
limits and at these instants the controller will limit the command
to battery limits.
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Figure 4. Simulink model of Accelerator Control Module

Figure 5. Simulink model of Brake Control Module

The brake control module during braking mode does the

regeneration based on brake pedal position, considering the motor
and battery limits. But during the coasting mode it does constant
torque regeneration.

Battery Charge Current Limit (CCL) is a factor to limit the current,

which increases the life of the Li-ion battery used. BCM inherits the
motor speed torque curve to find the maximum torque available from
the motor. Figure 5 shows the Simulink model of the Brake Control
Module (BCM).

Parallel braking strategy is adopted in the BCM. The frictional and

electrical braking (regenerative braking) are applied simultaneously
Figure 6. Torque limits of motor and battery such that at any pedal position the braking effort is the summation
of both.
Brake Control Module
The brake control module (BCM) is a sub module of propulsion
controller. It is responsible for recuperation of energy from wheels
while braking or coasting.
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Rate Limiter Module
This module smoothens the torque commands from both accelerator
and brake control module and limits the rate of change of torque
command. It aids in changing mode-of-operation as smooth as
possible but without losing vehicle acceleration performance. This
module helps in avoiding jerks by limiting the ramp rate of the torque
delivered.
SIMULATION RESULTS
The standard drive cycle for LCV is adopted for the simulation
purposes. Figure 7 shows the drive cycle input and chassis speed
output from the vehicle controller with mean error less than 0.2%.
The accelerator pedal is derived from the drive cycle input through a
driver model.
Figure 7. Drive cycle input, Simulation output of vehicle speed.
TEST BENCH VALIDATION
The vehicle control strategy validated in the simulation is coded in an
automotive embedded controller, along with vehicle system controls.
Figure 8 shows the test bench setup used for validating the controller-
in-the-loop results with those of simulation.
Figure 8. Test bench setup for hardware controller validation
The bench test is conducted with the accelerator pedal inputs derived
from the simulation environment. The command torque error between
the hardware output and simulation results is near zero (2e-5 %).
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OPERATING MODES OF VEHICLE
The vehicle controller is designed to operate the vehicle in different
modes depending on the drive cycle and driver requirement. The tests
are conducted on the vehicle with the un-laden condition.
The operating mode includes
1. Normal mode
2. Performance mode
3. Energy efficient mode and
4. Reduced performance mode
The normal mode operates at the nominal values and has fine balance
between the acceleration and energy efficiency figures. Thus the
normal mode is considered as a base for comparing the performances
of different modes.
Normal Mode
In this mode, the vehicle performance [3, 4] is tuned for normal
acceleration and limited speed of 70kmph. This mode is designed to
operate with the nominal rating of the vehicle drive train and battery
limits. Also battery limit is restricted to the nominal C rating (1.5C).
This mode is optimized to limit the battery current, which in turn
increases the battery life and reduces the losses due to cell internal
resistance. This mode is compared as a base for other modes such as
performance mode and energy efficient mode.
Maximum speed in this mode is limited to 70kmph (65kmph) in
Un-laden (Laden) condition. It is observed that, the vehicle consumes
on an average 32 kWh/100km (full throttle test) and 20 - 25
kWh/100km (typical urban drive cycle) in this mode [1].
Test-Track Results
The vehicle controller validated in test bench environment is installed
in the LCV and tested for performance measurement of the vehicle.
The traction motor is rated at 25kW power and with a peak torque of
280Nm. The Li-ion batteries of 18kWh capacity are used as the
energy source. The major auxiliary systems includes steering motor,
vacuum pump for brake and cooling pump which are all powered by
12V Low Voltage (LV) battery.
The un-laden vehicle is subjected to a test drive cycle in high speed
test-track and following results are obtained on vehicle level. Figure
9 shows the test drive cycle in kmph.
Figure 9. Drive cycle in test track
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The total drive cycle covers 11.67 kilometers with energy used being Figure 11 shows the test results of maximum vehicle acceleration
3.39kWh.The regeneration percentage stood 8.11%. possible at different speeds. On comparison to normal mode, the
maximum acceleration possible at low speeds is increased by 16%.
1. The energy used for traction is 83 % (91.7- 8.11).
2. Auxiliary's energy account to 16 % of total energy.
3. The energy during the idling is only due to auxiliaries. It is as
low as 1 % from 4 % by means of stop-start feature enabled
which reduce the energy consumption.
4. Percentage of regeneration stands 8 %.

The peak propulsion power account to 24.9kW, where the motor rated
power being 25kW. The peak regeneration power is 19kW. Average
and peak battery power being 8.24kW and 25.92kW respectively

Performance Mode
In this mode, the vehicle performance is tuned [3, 4] for maximum
acceleration and maximum speed. The drive and battery limits are
kept open up to its peak limits and delivers maximum available Figure 11. Maximum acceleration at different speeds of different operating
power from the vehicle. This mode achieves a maximum speed of modes
80kmph (12.46 % more compared to normal mode).
Energy Efficient Mode
Table 1. Comparing performance metrics of performance vs. normal mode
This mode aims to optimize the energy usage of the vehicle. The
drive train torque is optimized to operate the vehicle in high efficient
points. This mode is meant for city drive cycle where frequent brake
and acceleration are common. In this mode, energy consumed per
kilometer is less compared to normal and performance mode, at the
cost of reduction in acceleration performance. But the low speed
torques kept equal to normal mode to avoid slow pickup and
The acceleration tests are conducted on un-laden vehicle in both the
perceivable difference in acceleration performance.
performance and normal modes. Maximum speed and energy
consumption figures are tabulated in Table 1. Acceleration
Figure 12 shows the speed vs. torque curve of the normal mode and
performance is shown in Figure 10. The acceleration is increased
energy efficient mode. The mid-range torque of the motor is
from the normal mode by 15 to 50 % over the whole speed range.
optimized to increase the efficiency of the drive.
Average increase in acceleration counts to 35%.

Figure 12. Speed torque curves of normal and energy efficiency mode

Figure 10. Acceleration performance curve of different modes Figure 13 shows the drive cycle used for comparing the normal and
energy efficient modes.
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Figure 13. Drive cycle used for comparing energy efficient mode and normal
mode.
Table 2 shows the energy consumed per 100km on three different
trials comparing the normal and energy efficient mode. The energy
values tabulated are extrapolated for 100km. The average energy
consumption of the vehicle drops down by 7-8 %.
Table 2. Energy consumption of normal mode vs. energy efficient mode
Figure 14 shows the energy consumed by drive for 100km
(extrapolated) vs. average speed of the drive cycle considered. The
energy consumed by the drive during energy efficient mode averages
to 19.8kWh/100km, whereas the normal mode amounts to
22kWh/100km.
Figure 14. Energy consumption vs. average drive cycle speed for energy
efficient mode and normal mode
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Figure 15 shows the operating points of the normal and energy
efficient mode during the drive cycle. The operating points are
mapped along with the efficiency contour to appreciate the need
for optimization.
Figure 15. Operational points of vehicle with motor efficiency contour.
The arrow indicates the direction to move for optimizing the drive
energy consumption. The energy efficient algorithm pushes the
operating points of drive towards the maximum efficiency region.
The acceleration test is conducted on both normal and energy
efficient modes and acceleration performance is shown in Figure 10.
The acceleration is decreased from the normal mode by 0 to 40 %
over the whole speed range. Average decrease in acceleration counts
to 16%.
Figure 11 shows the maximum acceleration possible at different
speeds of the vehicle. On comparison to normal mode the maximum
acceleration possible at low speeds are same, as only the mid-range
torques are optimized. The average decrease in acceleration possible
in mid-range speeds amounts to 22%.
Reduced Performance Mode
The objective of the mode is to allow the vehicle to continue limited
operation, although with reduced performance, during battery system
fault. In particular, this mode gets enabled during the battery system
fault and reduces the performance of the drive to limit the battery
current. The vehicle speed is limited to maximum speed of 40 kmph
(30 kmph) in un-laden (laden) condition in this mode.
The battery pack is only as strong as the weakest cell in it. Therefore
a particular cell can put down the vehicle, if not carefully monitored
and responded in its critical zone.
The fault predictor algorithm as shown in Figure 16 predicts the
potential battery issue and signals propulsion control module for
limiting torque rate and battery peak power limit. The algorithm
measures the cell level voltages, pack voltage and SOC, and bound to
the following conditions for asserting the potential break down.
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collected during previous failures are analyzed and effectiveness

of criteria is tested.
Figure 18 shows effectiveness of criteria as a deciding factor on
fault prediction. The algorithm detects the fault before the buffer
time (Tb) of 5 seconds.

Figure 16. Fault Predictor Algorithm for battery potential issues.

Conditions for Predicting the Low Cell Voltage Fault

1. Low cell voltage and abrupt drop in SOC
Figure 17. Moving average of standard deviation to detect battery faults
This helps to rectify breakdown due to a particular cell level
voltage and its corresponding effect in SOC. These deep dip
in cell voltage accounts to abrupt drop in SOC. This condition
changes the vehicle to reduced performance mode to avoid
the SOC dip below the threshold. The SOC variation limits
being the maximum of 1 % in 18 seconds (which accounts to
2C rating). But special case is the cell adjacent to low voltage
cell reads increased voltage on account of this drop. As this
voltage error reading is momentary and doesn't cause in vehicle
breakdown. The algorithm also takes care of these special cases.
2. Low pack voltage and low SOC
This condition should be checked for preventing the pack
voltage to drop below its lower limit. This condition implies all
the cell voltages to be lower (but above cell voltage limit) which
normally occurs when battery is in low charge.
3. Averaged standard deviation of low cell voltages and abrupt
drop in SOC
This condition helps to predict the cell level fault before it drops
below its threshold. The peak Standard Deviation (SD) is an
indication of potential fault. Figure 17 shows effectiveness of
SD as a deciding factor on prediction of vehicle breakdown due
to battery, using vehicle data from previous failures. In this case
algorithm detects the fault before the buffer time (Tb) of 20
seconds. But the drive reduced performance can be achieved in
less than a second.
4. Averaged PD controller of low cell voltages and abrupt drop Figure 18. Averaged PD controller output to predict battery faults.
in SOC.
The classical Proportional Derivative (PD) controller is SUMMARY
deployed to predict the cell level voltage variation faults.
The vehicle controller is modeled and simulated in Simulink
The PD controller output is range limited to negative values
environment for a typical LCV drive cycle. The modeled controller is
for eliminating the cell voltage increasing instants due to
validated on a test bench and results were observed to match very
regeneration. The PD controller output is averaged to avoid
closely with the simulation.
the errors due to high frequency noise inputs. The vehicle data
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Results on an un-laden vehicle shows the brake energy recuperation DEFINITIONS/ABBREVIATIONS

on the test-track drive cycle is 8.5 % of total energy consumed. The
DC - Direct current
vehicle operation in different modes is explained. The performance
metrics such as acceleration performance, energy consumption and BMS - Battery Management System
maximum speed of vehicle are compared based on vehicle test CCL - Charge Current Limit
results. DCL - Discharge Current Limit
SOC - State Of Charge
The energy efficient mode saves as much as 7-8 % energy compared
to normal mode. The fault predictor algorithm which detects the CAN - Controller Area Network
potential battery fault is discussed. Future efforts will be directed HVB - High Voltage Battery
towards further refinement of fault predictor algorithm and to test the ACM - Accelerator Control Module
reduced performance mode in the vehicle.
BCM - Brake Control Module
LV - Low Voltage
REFERENCES LCV - Light Commercial Vehicle
1. Chang Shin-Hung, Lin Yong-Kai, Sung Por-Tseng and Shih Ya-Wen.
“Implementation and Verification of 50kW Propulsion System in SD - Standard Deviation
Electric Vans,” EVS26-1490124, 2012.
PD - Proportional & Derivative controller
2. Wu C. H., Hung Y. H., Chen B. R., Sung P. T. alet al., “Development of
a Software Platform for Taiwan's Electric Van,” EVS26-3380326, 2012.
3. Ehsani Mehrdad, Gao Yimin, Emadi Ali, “Modern Electric, Hybrid
Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles: Fundamentals, Theory, and Design” CONTACT INFORMATION
Standards media, ISBN-13-978142-0:053-982, 2009.
Name : B.Balaji
4. Larminie James, Lowry John, “Electric Vehicle Technology Explained”
Wiley, ISBN-13: 978047-0:851-630, 2003. Address : Ashok Leyland Technical Center
Vellivoyal chavadi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Chennai-600 103.
We would like to acknowledge Ashok Leyland Ltd for providing Balaji.b2@ashokleyland.com
support to undertake the project. We also thank Mr. C.Venkatesh and Phone: +91-9787-086-191
Mr. J. Babu of our vehicle integration team for the sincere effort in
making proto build vehicle and constant support when doing our test
in vehicle level.

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