Comparison of Anti-Jerk Controllers for Electric Vehicles With On-Board Motors

Anti-jerk controllers actively suppress the torsional oscillations of automotive drivetrains, caused by abrupt variations of the traction torque. The main benefits are: i) enhanced passengers' comfort; and ii) increased component life. Extensive literature deals with the design of anti-jerk controllers for electric powertrains with on-board motors, i.e., in which the electric motor is part of the sprung mass of the vehicle, and transmits torque to the wheels through a transmission, half-shafts and constant velocity joints. Nevertheless, a complete and structured comparison of the performance of the different control options is still missing. This study addresses the gap through the assessment of six anti-jerk controllers - five exemplary formulations from the literature, and one novel formulation based on explicit nonlinear model predictive control (eNMPC). All proposed control structures have the potential to be implemented on production vehicles. A set of objective performance indicators is defined to assess the controllers, which are tuned through an optimization-based routine. Results show that the wheel speed input is critical to enhance controller performance, but may lead to reduced robustness.