Isolated SEPIC Converter Based Solar Electric Vehicles (SEVs) for Battery Charger

Solar Electric Vehicles (SEVs) have traditionally been regarded as niche projects or with smaller car rooftop panels that can greatly boost electric driving range. This article introduces a solar Electric Vehicle (EV) concept that incorporates low-cost, thin-film solar cells into the vehicle body as a potential solution to EV charging and range issues, as well as the high cost of EVs. Every EV has a finite energy storage capacity. After a given distance, a charging station is necessary for recharging the EV batteries, but if we have solar PV installed in the EV it can be used for charging the EV which will reduce the cost of charging once installed. As a result, major countries such as the United States, China, Russia, India, Australia, and a few Arab countries intend to integrate solar panels on the roofs of EVs for emergency charging. To maximize power from the panel in this condition, an efficient MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) approach is necessary. To achieve this goal, an isolated SEPIC Converter adopting the Incremental Conductance (IC) MPPT technique is given in this paper for EVs. In this study, the developed system is tested on software and hardware prototypes. MATLAB Simulink software is used to simulate the 1.5-kW prototype. To that purpose, a 25W laboratory prototype is tested, and experimental results in different modes of operation are presented.