Electric Vehicle Regenerative Braking System
Simulation based on Kalman Filter
Yunfei Zhang Can Zhao
Tsinghua Shenzhen International Department of automation
Graduate School Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University Beijing, China
Shenzhen, China zhaoc17@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn
zhang-yf19@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn
Abstract—As an important component to increase the
mileage of electric vehicles, the regenerative braking system has
2020 Chinese Automation Congress (CAC) | 978-1-7281-7687-1/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/CAC51589.2020.9327759
become an indispensable part. Reasonable control strategies can
not only improve vehicle safety and reliability but also increase
the utilization of energy. In this paper, we design an energy
recovery control strategy model using Carsim and
MATLAB/Simulink. The proposed model is based on the
Kalman Filter, which can optimize the model accuracy and
improve the robustness of the system. At last, the results of the
simulation show a matching relationship with actual situation.
Keywords—Electric vehicle, Regenerative braking system,
Simulation, Kalman Filter
I. INTRODUCTION
In the process of popularization of electric vehicles,
intelligence and digitization are essential [1]. Meanwhile,
appropriate simulation is particularly important, which
includes vehicle dynamics simulation, driver model
simulation, motor model simulation, energy recovery system
simulation, etc. To increase the utilization of energy, the
regenerative braking system [2] is indispensable, as well as
reduce emissions, and improve vehicle performance.
Therefore, proper simulation of the energy recovery control
system is extremely important in the analysis and calculation
of electric vehicle parameters. In the process of simulation,
energy recovery control strategies are significant in the
regenerative braking system.
At present, there exist extensive research on energy
recovery control strategies [3][3]. The control strategies are
complicated, which must meet the Economic Commission of
Europe (ECE) regulations and cooperate with the braking
system [4]. Among the strategies, parallel and serial [5] are the
most basic two strategies in the energy recovery control
system. In the parallel strategy [6], the regenerative power is
proportional to the brake pedal stroke value. It applies braking
pedal force uneven on the front and rear wheels, which will
result in the low efficiency of energy recovery. In the serial
strategy, front wheels have both electric energy recovery force
and hydraulic force. If the electric energy recovery force gets
to the threshold value, the hydraulic braking force is added.
Compared to the parallel control strategy, the serial control
strategy can get more regenerative power [7]. Except for the
two control strategies above, there are some enhanced
algorithms to improve energy recovery efficiency, such as
Riccati equations [8], Radial Basis Function Neural Network
(RBFNN) and Concurrent Subspace Design (CSD) algorithm
[9], genetic algorithm [10], fuzzy logic control algorithm [11],
Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm [12], upper and
lower controllers strategy [13], and Hidden Markov Model
(HMM) algorithm [14], etc.
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Zhiheng Li*
Tsinghua Shenzhen International
Graduate School
Tsinghua University
Shenzhen, China
zhhli@mail.tsinghua.deu.cn
However, most of the methods mentioned above are based
on the brake pedal stroke value or brake pedal force to make a
distribution of torque between energy recovery braking force
and hydraulic force [15]. But there exists missing values and
inaccurate value of brake pedal force among the actual vehicle
data, which can’t be used directly as the input of the
regenerative braking strategy. Otherwise, it will cause
unstable problems [16], which are especially concerned with
vehicle simulation [17].
In terms of simulation, there are some commonly used
simulation software for vehicle modeling, such as Autonomie
[18], ADVISOR [19], AVL cruise [20], Carsim [21], and
MATLAB/Simulink, etc. Among them, Autonomie and AVL
cruise can provide motor models [22], but they have poor
visualization. ADVISOR is widely used but too complicated.
Carsim can provide accurate vehicle dynamics models, driver
models, and road models [23], but it lacks electric vehicle
models. MATLAB/Simulink can provide a programming and
simulation environment. Besides, motor models and battery
models can also be built in Simulink [24]. Based on the
characteristics of the above software, joint simulation is
essential [25].
In this paper, we propose a regenerative braking system
model based on the Kalman Filter [26] to solve the problem
of invalid brake pedal force. It can effectively deal with data
missing and fast changes. Besides, compared with the existing
regenerative methods [17], it will improve the reliability of the
energy recovery strategy. In addition, we establish a
comprehensive model on the joint simulation of Carsim and
Simulink to verify the reliability of the method we proposed
in this paper.
For the convenience of readers to understand our research,
we arrange the rest of our paper as follows. In Section II, a
simulation model and an algorithm are given. In Section III,
the parameters of Carsim and Simulink are given. In Section
IV, results and analysis are provided to validate the model and
the algorithm.
II. MODELING OF REGENERATIVE BRAKING SYSTEM
We have analyzed the possibility of the realization of
regenerative braking system simulation in the former chapter.
This part will implement the model of the energy recovery
system and the application of the Kalman Filter.
A. Theoretical Basis
This part will introduce a motor model in Simulink,
analyze basic serial control strategy, and introduce the Kalman
Filter algorithm.
For electric vehicles, a permanent magnet direct current
motor is widely used. Besides, motor models are similar, and
 its parameters didn’t affect much in our research. So, we Rear braking torque
choose an experience motor model [22], which has
mechanical characteristics as shown in Fig. 1. Front braking torque

Regenerative braking torque

200

180 engine
160
Torque
140 distribution
Torque (Nm)

120

100

80

60
Brake pedal force
40

20
Fig. 2. (a) Torque distribution without regenerative braking torque

0 Rear braking torque

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
Motor spin speed (rpm) Front braking torque
Fig. 1. (a) Engine mechanical characteristic
Regenerative braking torque

20

generator
0 Torque
distribution
-20
Torque (Nm)

-40

-60

-80 Brake pedal force

-100 Fig. 2. (b) Torque distribution with regenerative braking torque

-120
In Fig. 2. (a), the relationship between brake pedal force
-140
and torque is linear, which meets the ECE regulations. In Fig.
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 2. (b), we add regenerative braking torque to replace part of
Motor spin speed (rpm) the braking torque of the front wheel. In this strategy, we can
Fig. 1. (b) Generator mechanical characteristic
meet the demand for energy recovery efficiency and vehicle
stability. When it comes to emergency cases, the electric
In the engine model, the relationship between T-n meets braking system is fully replaced by the hydraulic braking
the following equation. system to enhance the reliability of the braking system.
In the process of simulation, we can get the relationship
­ min(Trequest , Tmax ), if Pout < Pe between the brake pedal force and acceleration. Thus, we can
°
Tout =® 9550 × Pe (1) shift the brake pedal force to acceleration and get a
° min(Trequest , ) , if Pout = Pe relationship between acceleration and torque distribution.
¯ n
Besides, acceleration can be easily acquired from speed value
Tout represents output torque; Trequest represents required and can be predicted from the Kalman Filter.
torque of vehicle; Tmax represents maximum output torque; In the Kalman Filter, it contains two parts, which are the
Pout denotes output power; Pe denotes rated power; n prediction part and the update part. The equations are as
follows:
indicates motor spin speed.
1) The prediction part:
In the generator model, the relationship between T-n is a
piecewise function. Here we select a simple common curve x ' = Fx + v (2)
[22].
In the energy recovery control strategy, a basic serial
P ' = FPF T + Q (3)
control strategy is suitable, which has a simple logic to be the x represents the state, including velocity and acceleration˗
basis for improving the simulation method. In this paper, we
choose a control strategy as shown in Fig. 2. F indicates state transmission matrix; v denotes a random
error; x ' represents predicted state; P indicates covariance

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 matrix of the state; P ' indicates predicted covariance matrix Start

of the state; Q denotes the uncertainty of covariance matrix.

Input carsim variables
2) The update part:
z = Hx + u (4) Y
Pedal_force effective?
y = z − Hx ' (5)
N

S = HP ' H T + R (6) Calculate acceleration from speed

K = P'H S T −1
(7) Predict acceleration using kalman
filter
x = x '+ Ky (8)
Output acceleration_predict Output pedal_force
P = ( I − KH ) P ' (9)
z represents measurement value of the state; H Get distributed torque
indicates measurement transmission matrix; u denotes
measurement error; y represents difference value between Get regenerative power
measurement and prediction; R denotes the uncertainty of
measurement model; S represents intermediate variables; Output power
K indicates Kalman gain; I indicates an eye matrix.
Through the update part, we can get a new state value and End
a new covariance matrix. Furthermore, we can return the Fig. 4. Simulation logic flow chart
variables to the prediction part and get a predicted value.
B. Modeling In Software For valid brake pedal force value, we can get distributed
torque and regenerative power immediately from the torque
Through the above theoretical analysis, the modeling and
distribution module. For invalid brake pedal force value, we
simulation logic are presented in this part.
need to calculate acceleration according to vehicle velocity.
The regenerative braking system is divided into four Then we input velocity and acceleration to Kalman Filter to
pieces, motor model, battery model, Kalman Filter model, and get a predicted acceleration, which is smoother than the initial
torque distribution model as shown in Fig. 3. Among them, acceleration. At last, we get regenerative power from the
the motor module has been provided in the previous part. The relationship between acceleration and torque distribution.
battery module is an ideal model without loss. Kalman Filter
module can be used to estimate the acceleration of vehicles, III. PARAMETERS AND EXPERIMENT
and output it to the torque distribution module to get a In this section, we will introduce the main parameters of
regenerative power and State Of Charge (SOC) value. the simulation in both software.

Variables
A. Parameters in Carsim
Speed This part will represent parameters in detail of Carsim,
which is shown in TABLE I.
Pedal_force

Brake_torque Simulink TABLE I. PARAMETERS IN CARSIM

Kalman
Spin_speed
filter
Motor Battery Variables Value
module module
module Max speed 70 km/h
Variables
Carsim Road length 5000m
Power_regenerate Torque distribution module Road friction coefficient 0.9
Regenerative
Simulation time 300s
_torque Simulation mileage 5000m
Hydraulic_torque Simulation time step 0.0005s

Output SOC
The parameters in this part are chosen from a real
condition. In addition, our experiments have proved that the
Fig. 3. Model of the regenerative braking system conclusion is not influenced by a reasonable parameter
selection.
Simulation is divided into two parts, get distributed torque
with brake pedal force and predicted acceleration. The As shown in Fig. 5, we give a possible speed curve under
simulation logic is shown in Fig. 4. real conditions, which includes a linear acceleration part, a
constant speed part, and a non-linear deceleration part. What
we are concerned about is the deceleration part. In this speed
curve, we can get different decelerations in simulation.
Meantime, we find that different deceleration models didn’t

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 affect much in our system. Even if the deceleration part is
replaced by other values, it will not affect the simulation
results.
To coordinate with the given target speed model, we
choose a straight road model with a distance of 5km and a
simulation time of 300s to ensure the entire simulation is
completed. In addition, the friction coefficient value and
simulation time step value are default in Carsim.
80
The value of F and H are provided by the Kalman Filter.
The value of Δt must cooperate with Carsim and Simulink.
The value of Q and R are non-zero small value to ensure the
diagonal element of the covariance matrix is not always equal
to zero. They can be selected by the existing covariance
matrix. The value of v and u are selected to improve the
robustness of our system. They can be selected by the state
value. The value of P0 is randomly selected, which will only
affect the first few state value.

70
speed IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

60
To validate the effectiveness of the designed model, two
Target speed (km/h)

experiments are designed to detect the regenerative braking

50
system model.
40
A. Simulation with Acceleration and Brake Pedal Force
30
We choose [90s,130s] as the deceleration period, and get
20 the regenerative braking torque and regenerative power in
different situations as shown in Fig. 6.
10

0 20
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
torque with acceleration

Regenerative braking torque (Nm)

Time (s) 10 torque with pedal_force
Fig. 5. Target speed curve in Carsim
0

B. Parameters in Simulink
-10
This part will represent parameters in detail of Simulink,
which is shown in TABLE II. -20

TABLE II. PARAMETERS IN SIMULINK -30

Variables Value
-40
Emergency braking force 80N
Simulation time 300s -50
Simulation time step 0.0005s 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130
Time (s)
The value of the emergency braking force is chosen from Fig. 6. (a) Regenerative braking torque with acceleration and brake pedal
actual data, which is a threshold to switch torque distribution force
mode. If the braking force is larger than the threshold, the
energy recovery system is out of work. Besides, in Simulink,
the simulation time and time step must cooperate with Carsim
to complete the simulation.
Regenerative power (kVA)

C. Parameters in Kalman Filter

This part will represent parameters in detail of the Kalman
Filter, which is shown in TABLE III.

TABLE III. PARAMETERS IN KALMAN FILTER

Variables Value
ª1 Δt º
F «0 1 »
¬ ¼
Δt 0.0005s
ª 0.1 0 º
Q « 0 0.1»
¬ ¼
Fig. 6. (b) Regenerative power with acceleration and brake pedal force
R 0.1
v 0 B. Experiment without and with Kalman Filter
u 0.001
To validate the effectiveness of the Kalman Filter
H [1 0] algorithm in this model, we compare acceleration and the
ª1 0 º regenerative power without and with Kalman Filter as shown
P0 « 0 0.1» in Fig. 7
¬ ¼

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Acceleration (m/s 2)
Fig. 7. (a) Acceleration without and with Kalman Filter
Fig. 7. (b) Regenerative power without and with Kalman Filter
C. Results Analysis
As shown in Fig. 6. (a), the x-axis represents time, while
the y-axis represents regenerative braking torque. The two
curves show regenerative braking torque calculated by
acceleration and brake pedal force respectively. The blue
curve is equivalent to the real value obtained by simulation,
and the red curve is equivalent to the experimental value. The
result indicates that the torque calculated by acceleration and
brake pedal force is similar, which verifies that our method of
using acceleration value to replace brake pedal force value is
valid in torque distribution.
In Fig. 6. (b), it shows the regenerative power calculated
by acceleration and brake pedal force separately. Similar to
Fig. 6. (a), it indicates that our model is valid in the
regenerative power calculation.
In Fig. 7. (a), acceleration without and with Kalman Filter
is shown. The result demonstrates that the Kalman Filter is
indispensable in the regenerative braking system. When there
is no Kalman Filter, the acceleration turns out to fluctuate.
In the period of [90s,100s], the vehicle should work in a
constant speed situation. But without Kalman Filter, a tiny
fluctuation is caused due to the Proportional-Integral-
Derivative (PID) control strategy, as shown in Fig. 7. (a). In
this situation, the energy recovery system works in a wrong
mode, as shown in Fig. 7. (b). The result indicates that in this
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period the energy recovery system gets a wrong signal
transferred from acceleration and begins to work. After
Kalman Filter, the acceleration is stable and can transfer
correct signals to ensure the energy recovery system work in
a correct mode.
In the period of [125s,130s], the speed is close to zero,
which is easily influenced by the environment noise and PID
control strategy. Therefore, fluctuation appears again.
However, Kalman Filter can eliminate the fluctuation and
make our regenerative braking system work in a stable
condition, which can be verified by Fig. 7. (a). In addition, the
energy recovery system didn’t work in this period because of
the low speed. As a result, the fluctuation is not reflected in
Fig. 7. (b).
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we proposed a regenerative braking system
based on the Kalman Filter and implement a simulation using
Carsim & MATLAB/Simulink. Through the experiment, we
verified that our model is valid. It can not only be used in
vehicle design but also provide a strategy for energy recovery
when it comes to channel congestion or data transmission loss.
However, there exists some improving space in our study.
For example, our road model is a straight road, which is an
ideal model in the simulation. If the road model is a round or
something irregular, the Kalman Filter algorithm is invalid
and should be replaced by Extended Kalman Filter or
Unscented Kalman Filter. Besides, we didn’t consider the loss
of some electric components, which will influence the
regenerative power value.
We will focus on the implementation of a reasonable
control strategy to replace the basic serial strategy in the next
step, such as Riccati equations or PSO algorithms to make our
model more effective.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the National Key R&D
Program of China (No.2018YFE0105100) and by Science and
Technology Innovation Committee of Shenzhen (No.
JCYJ20170412172030008).
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