Energy management for the electric powernet in vehicles with a conventional drivetrain

The electric power demand in road vehicles increases rapidly. Energy management (EM) turns out to be a viable solution for supplying all electric loads efficiently. The EM strategies developed in this paper focus on vehicles with a conventional drivetrain. By exploiting the storage capacity of the battery, the production, and distribution of electric power is rescheduled to more economic moments. In addition, this paper explores the advantages of electric loads with a flexible power demand. Based on optimization techniques, an optimal offline strategy as well as a causal online strategy are presented. Simulations illustrate the benefits of the EM strategies in terms of fuel economy. The online strategy has also been implemented in a series-production vehicle. Real-world experiments on a roller dynamometer test-bench validate the strategy, but also reveal additional fuel benefits due to unexpected side-effects from the engine control unit and the driver. Measured profits in fuel economy are as large as 2.6%, with only minimal changes to the vehicle hardware.