A general approach to energy optimization of hybrid electric vehicles

This paper approaches the problem of optimizing energy consumption onboard hybrid vehicles in a general way, considering the main issues to be solved in their conceptuality and, therefore, that are often abstracted from the actual structure of the particular drive train that the authors considered. The methods that were described are a harmonization of those used by the authors over the last several years; therefore, although being rather general, they are far from describing the state of the art of scientific literature on this topic. Both parallel and series structures are covered; for either structure, the effect of different functions on management strategies (e.g., pure-electric drive and plug-in recharge capabilities) are discussed. Some more details are supplied in the Case Studies section of this paper, where some of the authors' past experiences are reconsidered in terms of the general approach proposed in this paper.