Driving characteristics of an electric vehicle system with independently driven front and rear wheels

A new type electric vehicle drive system is proposed which has suitable functions for an urban car to easily cope with common situations such as traffic jams, and starting and stopping operations, and the special situation of failure of the motor drive system while running on city routs. The proposed electric vehicle drive system has a permanent magnet synchronous motor (SM) for the front wheel drive and an induction motor (IM) for the rear wheel drive. Various functions have been verified through simulations and experiences with an experimental driving apparatus equivalent to the actual system.