Electric vehicles with two motors combined via planetary gear train

Electric vehicles are usually required to work in rapidly changing conditions of speed and torque. This often makes the motors run in low-efficiency condition. Thanks to the integration of powerful processors, drive electronics for electric motors has been improving, allowing complex control algorithms to be implemented on the control unit of an electric vehicle. For Electric vehicles, in this work we propose the use of two electrical motor combined through a planetary gear train. The combination of the torques and of the speeds of the electric motors of the sun and the ring of the planetary gear make them work at better values of efficiency than a single motor. Through a parametric optimization we are able to increase the average efficiency over an urban cycle of 9.34% with respect to a single motor during supplying of power and of 11.86% during regeneration of power. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.