Dynamic Monitoring of the Effect of Passenger Occupancy on the Vehicle Center of Gravity (CG) In a Lightweight Electric Vehicle

Abstract

In lightweight vehicles, the passenger weight has a substantial contribution to the vehicle gross weight. This paper presents a simulation, evaluation, and application of vehicle model developed to estimate the shift in the center of gravity (CG) of the vehicle on various terrains, driving conditions and different passenger occupancy combinations. The designed Neighbourhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) comprises various sensors including load sensors and speed sensors at each wheel. Vehicle dynamics is influenced by various factor like speed, goad grade, lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, passenger occupancy, etc. Here a simple model has been presented where the movement of the vehicle CG is mapped based on the load experienced by each wheel in dynamic driving conditions. The wheel forces are used to identify the instantaneous CG by virtue of a system identifier on board the vehicle. The validation of the proposed model has been done on a lightweight NEV. In addition, several simulations have been carried out to illustrate the effect on vehicle dynamic stability. It was found that the passenger occupancy status can influence vehicle performance and handling to a large extent.