Abstract
This article proposes a method to improve the range of an electric vehicle (EV) by controlling its speed depending on the upcoming traffic signal status. A conventional Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) controls an EV’s speed such that there is a certain distance between the EV and the preceding vehicle. However, if the preceding vehicle drives at a non-optimum speed given the upcoming traffic signal status, as it nears the upcoming traffic signal the preceding vehicle will have to dissipate the unnecessarily gained kinetic energy by braking. If the EV blindly follows such a preceding vehicle using a conventional ACC, the EV will also have to dissipate a part of its kinetic energy by braking. In this work, this problem is addressed by proposing an Efficient Cruise Control (ECC). In the proposed ECC, if the EV is within a certain distance of the upcoming traffic signal, its speed reference is calculated based on the traffic signal status, while maintaining a minimum safe inter-vehicular distance from the preceding vehicle. The ECC is designed using Model Predictive Control theory and it is studied in a simulation environment using a Tesla S vehicle model. The simulation results show that the proposed controller improves the EV’s energy efficiency and therefore range, where the latter is an important bottleneck in widespread adoption of EVs.
Highlights
Carbon emissions is one of the most important challenges of the 21st century
One of the main obstacles in widespread acceptance of electric vehicle (EV) is range anxiety, where range is the distance an EV can travel from full charge
Many of the existing EVs and Internal Combustion Engine based vehicles are equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) [14]
Summary
Carbon emissions is one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Widespread acceptance of electric vehicle (EV) can contribute towards overcoming this challenge [2,7,12]. Improving the energy efficiency and thereby improving the range of an EV is an important research direction that deserves attention In this context, this article proposes an Efficient Cruise Control (ECC) to improve the range of an EV. Many of the existing EVs and Internal Combustion Engine based vehicles are equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) [14] It is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that controls distance between a host vehicle and the preceding vehicle. In addition to the main measurements a conventional ACC uses, i.e. the inter-vehicular distance, vehicle speed and vehicle acceleration, the proposed ECC uses the upcoming traffic signal status. The high level ECC objective is to generate a speed reference considering the upcoming traffic signal status and the distance to the upcoming traffic signal, while maintaining a safe minimum inter-vehicular distance from the preceding vehicle.
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