“HENRI COANDA” “GENERAL M.R.

STEFANIK”
AIR FORCE ACADEMY ARMED FORCES ACADEMY
ROMANIA SLOVAK REPUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE of SCIENTIFIC PAPER

AFASES 2013
Brasov, 23-25 May 2013

 
COMPARISON OF ELECTRIC MOTORS USED FOR ELECTRIC
VEHICLES PROPULSION

Adrian BĂLŢĂŢANU, Leonard Marin FLOREA

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania

Abstract: At present, interest in electric vehicles road reached a very high level. Undoubtedly, these
vehicles will be part of the main means of transport of the future but for them to dominate the market of
road vehicles, there is still much research efforts dedicated to this purpose. Also, new industries will be
created and will have trained many professionals in the fields of electric propulsion systems and
components of these systems. Rotary motors are the main components of electric propulsion systems of
road vehicles (scooters, cars, buses).  There are several types of electric motors can be used in vehicle
propulsion systems: DC motors, synchronous motors with permanent magnets or electromagnetic
excitation, switched reluctance synchronous motors, squirrel cage induction motors.  Performance of
these engines, with performance electric batteries or other energy storage mobile units, largely
conditions techno-economic performance of electric vehicles, which require careful consideration of their
choice. In this paper we present a comparative analysis of electric motors that are currently used in road
vehicle propulsion systems.

Keywords: electric vehicles, propulsion systems, rotary motors.

1. INTRODUCTION supply, and auxiliary. Electric propulsion

subsystem consists of vehicle controller,
Electric vehicle was converted mainly from electronic power converter, electric motor,
the existence of an internal combustion vehicle manual transmission and driving wheels.
by replacing the internal combustion engine
and fuel tank with an electric drive motor and
a battery unit while retaining all other
components as shown in Figure 1.
Disadvantages such as heavy load, reduced
flexibility, and performance degradation
caused electric vehicle using this type of use
out of. In its place, modern electric vehicle is
Figure 1. Primary propulsion system of the
deliberately built models based on the original electric vehicle [8]
frame and body. This unique structure satisfies
the requirements of the electric vehicle and Power supply subsystem includes: power
makes use of a more flexible electric supply, power management unit, and unit
propulsion. energy recharge. Auxiliary subsystem consists
A modern electric drive system is of drive power steering, climate control room
conceptually illustrated in Figure 2. Drive and auxiliary power unit.
propulsion system consists of three major
subsystems: propulsion electric motor, power
 

fuel cells, ultracapacitor, flywheel, and

different hybrid sources. Drive motors for
electric and hybrid vehicles can be classified
into two main groups, namely switching
engines and motors without commutation,
illustrated in Figure 4. Switching engines are
basically traditional DC motors, including
excitations series, shunt excitation, excitation
compound, separate excitation and excitation
permanent magnet motors. DC motors
switches and brushes need to enter armature
Figure 2. Conceptual illustration of the general current, thus making them less reliable and
configuration of an electric vehicle [2] unfit for maintenance-free operation and high
speed.
2. ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEM

It consists of electric motors, power

converters, and electronic control (Figure 3).
The electric motor converts electrical energy
into mechanical energy for propulsion of the
Figure 4. Classification of motor units for electric
vehicle or vice versa, to enable regenerative
and hybrid vehicle applications [2]
braking or charging energies to generate
electrcitate stored on board. Power converter is Recent technological developments have
used to power the electric motor with the pushed electric motors without switching into
proper voltage and current. Electronic a new era. Benefits include increased
controller can be further subdivided into three efficiency, increased power density and low
functional units: sensor interface circuits and operating costs. They are also more reliable
processor. and maintenance-free compared with
switching, so those without switch became
more attractive. Induction motors are widely
accepted as a type of engine without switching
to electric vehicle propulsion. This is due to
the low cost, high reliability and maintenance-
free operation. However, conventional control
of induction motor such as variable voltage,
variable frequency can not provide the desired
performance. With the advent of power
electronics and microchip age, principle as
Figure 3. Functional block diagram of a typical field oriented control or vector control of
electric propulsion system [2] induction motor have been accepted to
overcome the complexity of control because of
The sensor is used to translate the their nonlinearity. However, these control
measured quantities such as voltage, current, methods suffer from low efficiency in light
temperature, speed, torque, and flow in load and limited range of operating at constant
electrical signals through interface circuits. power. By replacing the field winding
These signals are conditioned to the permanent magnet synchronous motor classic,
appropriate level before being introduced into permanent magnet synchronous motors can
the processor. Processor output signals are remove conventional brushes, slip rings, and
usually amplified through interface circuits act field copper losses (Figure 5). In fact, the
of power semiconductor devices power permanent magnet synchronous motors are
converter. Energy source refers to batteries,
 “HENRI COANDA” “GENERAL M.R. STEFANIK”
AIR FORCE ACADEMY ARMED FORCES ACADEMY
ROMANIA SLOVAK REPUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE of SCIENTIFIC PAPER

AFASES 2013
Brasov, 23-25 May 2013
 
also known as brushless motors with brushless motors powered sinusoidal due to
permanent magnet or permanent magnet
sinusoidal AC and brushless configuration and cost. Choice of electric propulsion
(BLDC). Variable reluctance synchronous systems for electric vehicles depends
motors (SRM) were recognized to have great primarily on three factors: expectations driver,
potential for applications in electric and hybrid vehicle constraints, and energy source. Among
vehicles (Figure 6). the various types of electric motor drives,
different types are considered viable
powertrain electrification, namely those with
DC motor, induction motor (induction motor),
wound rotor synchronous motor, switched
reluctance motor and motor brushless
permanent magnet (Figure 7).

Figure 5. Relative ranking based on maximum

torque at the same volume [1]
Figure 7. Overall comparison of different types of
motors for traction propulsion system [8]

Given the above table, topology selection electric

machines for traction vehicles was restricted inside
and concentration flux permanent magnet
synchronous motors with radial flow but also axial
flux machines with permanent magnets.
Permanent magnet machines are becoming more
common in traction applications due to high power
density, compactness and current availability of
power electronics needed for effective control.
Figure 6. Comparison based on cutting torque Despite recent increases in the price of permanent
ripples at the same volume [1] magnets, they are still profitable. Machines axial
flux permanent magnet, axial length have
3. ADVANTAGES AND particularly short, which could be a considerable
DISAVANTAGES OF VARIOUS TYPES advantage to incorporate machine drive system of
OF ELECTRICAL MACHINES the vehicle. Moreover, axial flow impellers
machine can replace the engine flywheel and
Selection traction motors for hybrid flywheel housing is available in the engine.
propulsion systems is a very important step Induction machines are also selected because they
that requires a special attention. In fact, the are recognized as a mature technology and is
automotive industry is still searching for the widely accepted in traction applications (Figure 8).
DC machines were excluded from the selection list
electric propulsion system suitable for hybrid
for the well known problems associated with
vehicles and even electric vehicles. In this mechanical switching. Switched reluctance
case, the key features are efficiency, reliability machines also have been considered a candidate
 

for electric vehicle applications. However, they are are located in the same state of electric
less common and therefore are not considered in machine, and the machine phase currents is
this study. The same observation can be made on thus reduced.
the wound rotor synchronous machine. This All multiphase variable speed drives share
machine is not selected for now, because copper a number of common features:
losses rortor difficult to extract, but it would be
relevant in the future for a car that does not use
- For output power of the machine time,
permanent magnets, and is profitable for future the use of more than 3-phase power
applications (Figure 9). split to allow a greater number of
connections to the inverter, allowing
use of semiconductor switches at low
levels.
- Due to a larger number of phases,
multiphase machines are characterized
by a much better fault tolerance than
the phase.
Independent control of flux and torque
requires means for independent control of two
currents. This is impossible in a car if a phase-
phase becomes open circuit, but does not
present a problem for a multiphase machine as
Figure 8. Industrial engines and traction [10]
long as no more than three phases are not
For the applications drive electric cars, defective.
multiphase system could meet the potential
demand for electric drives great power, which
are both robust and energy efficient.

Figure 10. Multiphase machine models [9]

3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The work has been funded by the Sectorial

Operational Program Human Resources
Development 2007-2013 of the Romanian
Figure 9. Systems evaluation of electric Ministry of Labor, Family and Social
propulsion [10] Protection through the Financial Agreement
POSDRU/107/1.5/S/76903.
High number of phases drives have several
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 “HENRI COANDA” “GENERAL M.R. STEFANIK”
AIR FORCE ACADEMY ARMED FORCES ACADEMY
ROMANIA SLOVAK REPUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE of SCIENTIFIC PAPER

AFASES 2013
Brasov, 23-25 May 2013
 
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