High-Performance Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Design Studies and Considerations 2015-01-1158

This paper presents a detailed design study and associated considerations supporting the development of high-performance plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Due to increasingly strict governmental regulations and increased consumer demand, automotive manufacturers have been tasked with the reduction of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. PHEV powertrains can provide a needed balance in terms of fuel economy and vehicle performance by exploiting regenerative braking, pure electric vehicle operation, engine load-point shifting, and power-enhancing hybrid traction modes. Thus, properly designed PHEV powertrains can reduce fuel consumption while increasing vehicle utility and performance. The existence of a multitude of PHEV architectures capable of being incorporated into existing high-performance vehicles necessitates development of simulation exercises which can assist in selecting the optimal architecture as well as aid in specifying and selecting critical components, such as the size of the electric machines and the capacity of the battery pack. As a test case, the Ferrari FF platform with a naturally aspirated V12 engine was chosen to assess two proposed PHEV architectures in terms of yielded vehicle performance and equivalent fuel economy. Dynamic programming (DP) was employed to provide an impartial (optimally controlled) comparison of equivalent fuel consumption between the full hybrid architectures. These design studies and considerations were determined to provide the key metrics necessary to identify the best architecture to prototype and implement in the high-performance vehicle platforms manufactured by Ferrari S.p.A.