Analysis of power requirement of a prototype four-wheeled electric vehicle under different off-road conditions

Abstract

Different types of vehicles are used for various agricultural activities. Most agricultural vehicles have high power, which makes them inconvenient for elderly and female farmers in difficult farm conditions, such as irregular, inclined, and low-traction terrains. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the power requirement of a four-wheeled electric vehicle (4WEV) on various off-road conditions. In this study, the experiments were conducted on typical Korean farm roads by considering different slope, load, and road conditions as factors for the power requirement analysis. The torque data were obtained for 0°, 5°, 10°, and 15° slopes with 100, 300, and 500 kg payloads. The rotational speed of the wheel was constant at 50, 60, or 70 rpm for each slope and payload condition on concrete and asphalt roads. The average power required by the 4WEV was recorded to be 0.84 ± 0.025 kW and 0.85 ± 0.087 kW with 500 kg payload on 15° inclined concrete and asphalt roads, respectively. Similarly, the minimum power recorded was 0.29 ± 0.023 kW and 0.31 ± 0.069 kW with 500 kg payload at 70 rpm wheel speed on completely horizontal concrete and asphalt roads, respectively. The 60 and 50 rpm speeds showed the maximum and minimum power at 15° and 0° slopes, respectively, during the experiment. However, the maximum power requirement varies with the load condition and wheel speed under different off-road conditions. The developed 4WEV could satisfactorily scale 15° slopes with 500 kg payloads without any difficulty.