A Web-Based Matlab Application for E-Learning and Simulation of Electric Vehicle Performance

The paper presents the simulation of a basic electric vehicle motor-drive system and dynamics used to study the performance and the influence of various parameters of the vehicle and the electric drive. The model and simulations are implemented in a specially developed MATLAB application running on a MATLAB application server or in a MATLAB runtime environment. In this way, the program is in the form of an executable file, that doesn't need anything but the runtime environment preinstalled, avoiding any incompatibilities between versions and releases of MATLAB or licensing issues. The purpose of this program is to explore math modelling by students in various disciplines and levels. The motivating example is an electric powered car with a simple torque speed curve, used as a basis and the effects of different model parameters on automobile performance are examined. It was then used to determine the system performance and energy flow over a given set of motoring and regeneration speed/torque conditions. The model could be used to augment instruction in energy conversion or vehicle systems courses.