Modelling and Design of Motor Drive System for Electric Motorcycles

Energy transition and carbon emission reduction are critical challenges in the 21st century. Electric motorcycles (E-Motorcycles) and electric vehicles offer a promising solution for sustainable transportation with low carbon emissions. One of the most challenging aspects of developing E-Motorcycle is the design and development of a drivetrain system that contains an electric motor and its inverter (controller). In this work, system analysis and comparison studies are conducted for the various electric motors and control systems in the literature to choose the suitable drivetrain system with respect to the system requirements (low-cost and efficient systems). Permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is the most suitable candidate to drive the E-Motorcycle with considering its control systems. MATLAB/SIMULINK is used to model different drivetrain systems, a comprehensive analysis and different test profiles of drivetrain systems using the common control strategies for PMSM are performed. These control schemes are field oriented control (FOC), V/F, and Six- Step control systems, the simulation studies focus on evaluating their performance in terms of speed control, torque control, current waveforms, voltage waveforms, and efficiency. The simulation results demonstrate that FOC provides smoothest and most efficient motor operation with lower current ripple and peak-to-peak values; despite of its high cost and complexity. The developed drivetrain system includes 1 kW PMSM mounted in the rear wheel and Six-Step control system, which achieves the system requirements. The rated speed and output torque are 30 km/h and 40 Nm, respectively, the maximum achieved efficiency is 88%.