Torque Vectoring for Electric Vehicles with Individually Controlled Motors: State-of-the-Art and Future Developments

Abstract

This paper deals with the description of current and future vehicle technology related to yaw moment control, anti-lock braking and traction control through the employment of effective torque vectoring strategies for electric vehicles. In particular, the adoption of individually controlled electric powertrains with the aim of tuning the vehicle dynamic characteristics in steady-state and transient conditions is discussed. This subject is currently investigated within the European Union (EU) funded Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) consortium E-VECTOORC, focused on the development and experimental testing of novel control strategies. Through a comprehensive literature review, the article outlines the stateof-the-art of torque vectoring control for fully electric vehicles and presents the philosophy and the potential impact of the E-VECTOORC control structure from the viewpoint of torque vectoring for vehicle dynamics enhancement.

Integral sliding mode for the yaw moment control of four-wheel-drive fully electric vehicles with in-wheel motors

“…Torque-vectoring -the controlled distribution of the traction and braking torques among the wheels, also called direct yaw moment control -enables the design of the steady-state and transient cornering responses of the vehicle (De Novellis et al, 2012). This has a potential impact on vehicle behaviour with benefits regarding safety and the handling performance, more so than through the traditional approach of fine tuning hardware parameters such as mass distribution and suspension elasto-kinematics (De Novellis et al, 2013;Genta, 1997).…”

Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of Fully Electric Vehicles via the Minimization of Motor Power Losses

“…For fully electric vehicles equipped with individually-controlled powertrains, the control of vehicle behavior can be extended to all possible steady-state and transient driving conditions. For example, by developing continuously operating control systems, key vehicle properties such as the understeer characteristic (the standard graph used to describe the steady-state response of a vehicle to changes in the steering wheel angle) can be modified to achieve specified handling qualities [2]. As a result, different "driving modes" can be made available to the driver.…”

Energy efficient torque vectoring control

“…In particular, the controlled distribution of the traction and braking torques among the wheels allows the design of the steady-state and transient cornering responses of the vehicle (De Novellis et al, 2012) and, thus, the creation of fundamentally different driving modes. For example, a model-based design procedure is used in De Novellis et al (2015b) to define sets of vehicle understeer characteristics at different longitudinal accelerations and the corresponding reference yaw rates (implemented in Layer 1, section 2.1.)…”