Transport and vehicular travel are essential for socio-economic growth, as they enable the operation of cities and businesses globally. However, large percentages of the transport sector currently rely on internal combustion engine vehicles, causing an increase in greenhouse gases and air pollution. Electric vehicles provide a promising solution to the issues faced by the transport sector. As a result, optimization of the electric vehicle powertrain is a key area, with the traction motor control mechanism forming a major component of the powertrain. Consequently, this paper aims to review the novel control techniques which have been applied to the traction motor system in electric vehicles. Direct torque control and indirect field oriented control are commonly applied control techniques as they allow for advanced control of the induction and permanent magnet synchronous motors currently used in most of the electric vehicles being produced. In general, various improvements have been made to conventional direct torque control and indirect field oriented control schemes, in order to reduce ripple and improve parameter insensitivity. While efforts are still being carried out in these areas for electric vehicle applications, it was found that there has been a large emphasis placed on powertrain efficiency improvement through optimization of the traction motor control system. Efficiency improvements have recently been achieved through optimal selection of stator flux and DC link voltage values. Research into efficiency improvement is likely to continue as extended vehicle range can be achieved.

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