An Optimal Energy Management System for Electric Vehicles Hybridized With Supercapacitor

In this study, the potential merits of integrating a supercapacitor into an electric vehicle (EV), namely a Toyota RAV4 EV, is investigated. In particular, the impacts of energy management system (EMS) with a buffer scheme and a dynamic programming (DP)-based control law on the vehicle performance characteristics are examined and compared to the vehicle with no supercapacitor in use. While the simulation results show improvements in the vehicle’s driving range and heat loss for the both considered EMSs, the DP-based controller significantly outperforms the buffer policy. The investigations also demonstrate promising results regarding the use of supercapacitors in EVs, intriguing interest for further studies on online control strategies for these systems.