Enhancing the driving range of a neighbourhood EV using EV rooftop mounted EV system

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are distinguished as a more eco-friendly transport solution. Out of them, Neighborhood EVs (NEVs) are more attractive for shortdistance traveling for day-to-day work. One of the major issues with NEVs is range anxiety. Advancements in battery technology have increased the driving range of NEVs recently. In addition, rooftop-mounted Photovoltaic (PV) systems on NEVs are being evaluated as a possible solution for range anxiety by facilitating frequent replenishment of the battery charge. The conventional PV system is designed for static applications. Hence, due to rapid variations of irradiance that a NEV can experience when moving, the output power of the integrated PV system would be lesser leading to a low efficient system. This has to be addressed by utilizing an efficiencyimproved controller. This paper proposed the methodology of developing an efficiency-improved controller for NEV with a rooftop PV system by analyzing the irradiance pattern experienced. This is achieved by evaluating the optimum controller parameters. In the proposed methodology, three approaches have been presented static controller, dynamic controller by forecasting the next irradiance variation, and dynamic controller with variable step generator. The most optimum approach can be selected based on the application of NEV. Further, the designing of a PV system for an Electric Three-Wheeler utilizing the proposed methodology has been carried out and the performance of the proposed system has been confirmed and verified by simulating in PSCAD simulation software.