A combined multiphase electric drive and fast battery charger for Electric Vehicles

Currently, the main technical weaknesses of Electrical Vehicle (EV) are the limitation of the on-board energy storage and the time to recharge it. Despite of recent improvements in batteries, these drawbacks as well as the cost make the EV not yet attractive. Real challenges for Power Electronics engineers are not only the cost reduction through new system optimizations but also the autonomy increase through the global efficiency improvement and the introduction of a cheap fast on-board charger. This paper deals with a new concept of electric powertrain system which is configurable as a battery charger without additional power components. The interest of this particular solution is the full magnetic decoupling between the rotor and the stator during the charging mode which avoid a clutch system, and prevent the rotor from vibrating. The traction system solution is presented, the feasibility of this combination topology is studied and the effect of the electrical machine's windings configuration is analyzed. Some simulation results show the propulsion efficiency is also improved.