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Modeling of electric vehicles will make it more convenient to predict its performance
and characteristics. The primary parameter to be modeled is vehicle performance. By
performance we mean acceleration and top speed, an area where electric vehicles
have a reputation of being very poor. It is necessary that any electric vehicle has a
performance that allows it, at the very least, to blend safely with ordinary city traffic.
Another vitally important feature of electric vehicles that we must be able to predict
is their range. This can also be mathematically modeled, and computer programs
make this quite straightforward. The mathematics we will develop will allow us to
see the effects of changing things like battery type and capacity, as well as all other
aspects of vehicle design, on range. This is an essential tool for the vehicle designer.
We will go on to show how the data produced by the simulations can also have other
uses in addition to predicting performance and range. For example we will see how
data about the motor torque and speed can be used to optimize the compromises
involved in the design of the motor and other subsystems.
The first step in vehicle performance modeling is to produce an equation for the
tractive effort. This is the force propelling the vehicle forward, transmitted to the
ground through the drive wheels.
Let us consider a vehicle of mass m, proceeding at a velocity v, up a slope of angle
, as in Figure 3.1. The force propelling the vehicle forward, the tractive effort, has
to accomplish the following:
33
Figure 3.1: The forces acting on a vehicle moving along a slope. [6]
3.2.1
The rolling resistance is primarily due to the friction of the vehicle tyre on the road.
Friction in bearings and the gearing system also play their part. The rolling resistance
is approximately constant, and hardly depends on vehicle speed. It is proportional to
vehicle weight. The equation is:
Frr= rrmg
(3.1)
Where rr is the coefficient of rolling resistance. The main factors controlling rr are
the type of tyre and the tyre pressure. The free-wheeling performance of a vehicle
becomes much better if the tyres are pumped up to a high pressure, though the ride
may be less comfortable.
The value of rr can reasonably readily be found by pulling a vehicle at a steady very
low speed, and measuring the force required. Typical values of rr are 0.015 for a
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radial ply tyre, down to about 0.005 for tyres developed especially for electric
vehicles.
3.2.2
AERODYNAMIC DRAG
This part of the force is due to the friction of the vehicle body moving through the
air. It is a function of the frontal area, shape, protrusions such as side mirrors, ducts
and air passages, spoilers, and many other factors. The formula for this component is:
Fad = 0.5CdAv2
(3.2)
Where is the density of the air, A is the frontal area, and v is the velocity. Cd is a
constant called the drag coefficient.
The drag coefficient Cd can be reduced by good vehicle design. A typical value for a
saloon car is 0.3, but some electric vehicle designs have achieved values as low as
0.19. There is greater opportunity for reducing Cd in electric vehicle design because
there is more flexibility in the location of the major components, and there is less
need for cooling air ducting and under-vehicle pipe work. However, some vehicles,
such as motorcycles and buses will inevitably have much larger values, and Cd varies
around 0.7 are more typical in such cases.
The density of air does of course vary with temperature, altitude and humidity.
However a value of 1.25 kg.m3 is a reasonable value to use in most cases. Provided
that SI units are used (m for A, m.s1for v) then the value of Fad will be given in
2
Newton.
3.2.3
The force needed to drive the vehicle up a slope is the most straight forward to find.
It is simply the component of the vehicle weight that acts along the slope. By simple
resolution of forces we see that:
Fhc= mg sin ()
(3.3)
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3.2.4
ACCELERATION FORCE
If the velocity of the vehicle is changing, then clearly a force will need to be applied
in addition to the forces shown in Figure 3.1. This force will provide the linear
acceleration of the vehicle, and is given by the well-known equation derived from
Newtons second law,
Fla= ma
(3.4)
However, for a more accurate picture of the force needed to accelerate the vehicle we
should also
consider the force needed to make the rotating parts turn faster. In other
Figure 3.2: Arrangement for connecting a motor to a drive wheel using a belt system
with step up gear mechanism to increase the amount of torque. [6]
Referring to Figure 7.2, clearly the axle torque = Fter , where r is the radius of the
tyre, and Fte is the tractive effort delivered by the power train. If G is the gear ratio of
the system connecting the motor to the axle, and Tm is the motor torque, then we can
say that:
Tvech = Tm G
Tm =
Fte r
(3.5)
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m = G vech = G r (rad/sec)
(3.6)
Tm = JG r
(3.7)
Where, J is the moment of inertia of the motor. The force at the wheels needed to
provide the angular acceleration (Fa) is found by combining this equation with Eq.
(3.7);
G2
Fa = J r 2 a
(3.8)
We must note that in these simple equations we have assumed that the gear system is
100% efficient, it causes no losses. Since the system will usually be very simple, the
efficiency is often very high. However, it will never be 100%, and so we should
rewrite the equation by incorporating the gear system efficiency g. The force
required will be slightly larger, so equation (7.8) can be rewritten to:
G2
Fa = J r 2 a g
(3.9)
2
Typical values for the constants here are 40 for G/r and 0.025 kg.m for the moment
of inertia. These are for a 30 kW motor, driving a car which reaches 60 kph at a
motor speed of 7000 rpm. Such a car would probably weigh about 800 kg. The right
hand side in equation (7.8) will have a value of about 40 kg in this case. In other
words the angular acceleration force given by equation (7.8) will typically be much
smaller than the linear acceleration force given by equation (7.4). In this specic (but
reasonably typical) case, it will be smaller by the ratio:
40
= .05 = 5%
800
It will quite often turn out that the moment of inertia of the motor J will not be
known. In such cases a reasonable approximation is to simply increase the mass by
5% in equation (7.4), and to ignore the Fa term.
37
3.2.5
(3.10)
Where,
Frris the rolling resistance force, given by equation (3.1);
Fadis the aerodynamic drag, given by equation (3.2);
Fhcis the hill climbing force, given by equation (3.3);
Flais the force required to give linear acceleration given by equation (3.4);
Fa is the force required to give angular acceleration to the rotating motor,
given by equation (3.9).
We should note that Fla and Fa will be negative if the vehicle is slowing down, and
that Fhc will be negative if it is going downhill.
3.3 MODELLING VEHICLE ACCELERATION
3.3.1
38
of motor, the torque falls in such a way that the power remains constant. The angular
velocity of the motor depends on the gear ratio G and the radius of the drive wheel r
as in equation (3.5) derived above. So we can say that:
For, m< base ; Tm = Tmax = 97.5 N.m
(3.11)
= T0 KG
(3.12)
Where,
vech = angular velocity of the velocity (i.e. angular velocity of the axle) (rad/sec)
m = angular velocity of the motor (rad/sec)
Eq. (3.11) represents motor torque in terms of angular velocity of the vehicle where
as Eq. (3.12) represents it in terms of linear velocity of the vehicle.
3.3.2
Tm = KTIa =
K T V
RT
m = 2vech = 2
Tm = KTIa =
K T V
RT
KT KB 2
v
RT
2K T K B 2
RT r
= 65015.384
At base speed, m = base;
= = 97.5 = 65015.384
551.33
15.984
= 35.84 rad/sec
(3.13)
(3.14)
(3.15)
(3.16)
(3.17)
(3.18)
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3.3.3
Total tractive force required for the vehicle movement when it is moving in a road in
a smooth flat plane,
Fte= Frr+ Fad+ Fla+ Fa
as per Eq. (3.10). Hill climbing force can be considered zero because of assuming
zero inclination.
dv
(3.19)
Here the moment of inertia of the motor is not known, so we will adopt the expedient
suggested at the end of Section 7.2.5, and increase m by 5% in the linear acceleration
term only.
Torque required for the traction,
Tte = Fte x r
(3.20)
The motor is coupled with the axle through a gear. If G is the gear ratio, then the total
load torque for traction referred to motor shaft can be written asTm = Motor Torque =
T te
F te r
G
= [ + + 0.5 2 ]
where, = =
= [
+ + 0.0625 2 2 ]
(3.21)
(3.22)
= vehicle velocity
Let us put all the values in Eq. (3.22) to obtain a equation that will describe the
dynamics of traction load;
The electric vehicle has a mass of 380 kg, with a typical passenger of mass 180
kg (for 3 passengers with average mass of 60kg) so total mass m = (180+200)
= 380 kg.
To incorporate the angular acceleration of different rotating parts of the vehicle
along with motor, m is increased by 5% in the linear acceleration term only.
A value of 400 kg will thus be used from m in the final term of equation
(3.19).
40
Figure 3.3: The simplified diagram of the designed system of connecting the motor
with the driving axle of the vehicle with a geared mechanism.
41
Putting all the values in Eq. (3.22) the final equation can be obtained as = 9
+ 2.95 + 0.00075 2
(3.23)
= 60 + 2.95 + 0.03321 2
(3.24)
+ 0.0005535 2
= 1.576 0.0005535 2
(3.25)
When m base; i.e. v 5.376, motor torque is given by Eq. (3.16). Based
on that, Eq. (3.24) can be written as-
Tm = 65015.384m
= 65015.384
0.3
(3.26)
The total vehicle traction acceleration and final speed can be modeled using Eq.
(3.25) and Eq. (3.26). There are many practical and simple ways of solving these
differential equations using a simple initial condition that v = 0 when t = 0.
However, the most versatile next step is to derive a simple numerical solution, which
can then easily be used in MATLAB.
The derivative of v is simply the difference between consecutive values of v divided
by the time step. Applying this to equation (3.25) gives us:
+1
=
= 1.576 0.0005535 2
+1 = + t (1.576 0.0005535 2 )
(3.27)
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(3.28)
Eq. (3.27) holds valid for velocities up to the critical velocity of 5.376 ms1, after
which we have to use equation (3.28), approximated in exactly the same way as we
have done for equation (3.27).
The MATLAB script le (discussed in Appendix-A) shows how to solve these
equations using this program. Figure 3.4 is a plot of the solution using a time step t
of 0.1s.
Figure 3.4: The initial acceleration and final velocity of the vehicle.
From the figure it is clearly evident that the vehicle takes just over 5 seconds to reach
its maximum speed of 22.5kmph. At this point the motor will rotate at a speed of
41.667 rad/sec which is very close to its rated speed (38.46 rad/sec).
43
Figure 3.5: The torque-velocity curve of the motor and vehicle respectively.
The maximum amount of torque obtained from the motor is around 95 N.m. This
torque is responsible to accelerate the vehicle. This maximum torque of 95 N.m is
maintained up to the base speed of the motor which corresponds to the vehicle speed
of (5.376 x 3.6) = 19.3536kmph. After that, the torque begins to fall and eventually
settles down to the balancing speed of the motor. At final or balancing speed, the
torque falls very sharply as the acceleration phase is over and it requires only to
overcome the rolling resistance and aerodynamic resistance of the vehicle when
speed becomes constant (as Fla becomes zero at constant speed due to zero
acceleration).
The total torque profile of the vehicle from zero to final speed can be visualized as
shown in Figure 3.6-
Figure 3.6: The torque profile of the load as seen from the motor shaft.
44
The constant torque region provides the maximum torque which in turn provides a
linear constant acceleration up to base speed that is 19.35kmph speed of the vehicle.
After that, the torque falls naturally as it enters to the natural characteristic region of
its operation. Finally the motor torque matches with the load torque which falls
significantly and continues to operate at this value.
The axle torque i.e. the vehicle torque with respect to vehicle speed and time are
shown in Figure (3.7) and Figure (3.8) respectively. It may be noted here that, the
axle torque will be around 2 times greater than motor torque due to the presence of a
step up gear. At the same time, considering an efficiency of 98% for the gear
arrangement, the actual torque will be .98 times of it.
Figure 3.7: Axle Torque of the vehicle with respect to its speed. It is exactly in the
same nature of the motor-vehicle speed curve of Fig. (3.5).
45
Figure 3.8: Axle torque profile though out the entire time of run of the vehicle
Axle Torque of the vehicle with respect time to show the maximum starting torque
along with final steady state torque value of the vehicle. As the acceleration phase is
over around 7.5 seconds, the torque falls significantly and settles to a new lower
value where it remains constant for the rest of the period of it operation.
The final parameter of the motor to be discussed and analyzed is motor current. As
the current is proportional to motor torque, it will vary itself according to the
variation of torque during different periods of its operation.
The current-vehicle speed and current-time curves are shown in Figure (3.9) and
Figure (3.10) respectively.
46
Figure 3.9: Armature current of the motor with respect to time. The current taken by
the motor is very small during steady-state operation.
47
Tm = KTshIa =
K T sh V
RT
= 195.0139.2333v
K T K B sh 2
RT
= 195.0131.385
(3.29)
Now, in the similar way of Eq.(3.25), we can develop another equation using Eq.
(3.29). It must be noted that, this Eq. (3.29) will be coming into the consideration
when the vehicle speed is equal to its final speed that is 22.5kmph i.e. 6.25m/s.
When, 41.667 rad/sec (i.e. vehicle speed, v6.25m/s);
(3.30)
(3.31)
( + 1) = 2.95 + 60
+ 0.03321 2
(3.31)
Axle or the vehicle torque for traction can be calculated as ( + 1) = 5.9 + 120
+1
+ 0.06642 2
(3.32)
0.24+0.1138 (+1)0.4875
0.057
(+1)
0.4875
(3.33)
(3.34)
So, the modified MATLAB script file (shown in Appendix-B) according to the
modification done in the system due to winding changeover would yield the
following set of output curves for speed, torque and current. This set of results will
be used to compare the performance between the vehicle fitted with winding change
over facility and the vehicles operated with series and compound motor only without
winding change over facility. The different output and input parameters of the motor
as well as the vehicle obtained by simulation in MATLAB are shown as follows one
by one along with description and significance of the figures for interpretation.
49
Figure 3.10: Simulated Speed and acceleration characteristic of the vehicle with the
feature of winding change over facility.
A comparative diagram showing the speed without and with the winding change over
facility would be more helpful to justify the improvement in the performances of
vehicle. A diagram of such kind is shown in Figure 3.11 in the following-
Figure 3.11: Comparative analysis showing the differences in terms of final speed
between the two types of motor.
50
Fig. (3.11) clearly indicates that, the motor with winding change over facility would
provide the highest final speed. The difference in their final is around 47.5kmph.
This is certainly being a great advantage for the latter one compare to the former one.
Figure 3.11: Torque speed characteristic of the motor with winding change over
facility. The sharp rise in torque is due to sudden change in current consumed by the
armature due to disconnecting the series field.
The total torque profile of the motor is shown in Figure 3.12.
Figure 3.12: Torque profile of the motor during entire period of its operation.
51
Figure 3.14: Torque profile of the vehicle from starting to winding change over to
steady state condition, when operated by a compound motor with winding change
over facility.
52
Figure 3.15: Speed-current characteristic of the motor. After winding change over,
the value of the current remains very during the entire period of its acceleration.
Figure 3.16: Current profile of the motor during its entire period of operation.
A very high current is being consumed by the current at the moment of winding
change over. This is due to the sudden reduction in the flux of the motor as the series
winding is disconnected from the armature at this instant. To sustain the same
amount of torque, the current of the motor rises to a very high value due to
compensate the reduction of flux. As the motor speed approaches towards its final
speed, the current starts to decrease and eventually settles down to a steady value. It
53
must be noted with great importance that, such amount of high current must not be
allowed to flow in the circuit as it may damage the winding as well as the motor. In
practice this current will be limited by using a hysteresis current controller which will
restrict the current within twice the maximum of its rated value (i.e. 40x2=80A). In
other words, the controller will allow a current to flow through the armature which
may be at best twice than its rated value. Such a limitation will obviously affect the
performance of the motor. Due to such restriction in current the torque produced by
the motor will be less and as result the acceleration of the vehicle beyond the instant
of winding change over will be reduced. But this will not affect the final speed of the
motor. Due to limited amount of torque available, the vehicle will take a relatively
long time to reach its final speed.
3.6 SUMMERY
This chapter deals with the modeling and simulation of electric vehicle. It is obvious
that, a vehicles mathematical model is crucially important in the design of electric
vehicles as it allows the designer very quickly to try out different design options,
virtually at no cost at all. Even a quite simple mathematical model used in this
chapter is sufficient to predict the performance parameters of a real vehicle.
54
CHAPTER 4
DESIGN OF CONVERTER AND CONTROLLER FOR
ELECTRIC VEHICLE
4.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the design of the controller of the motor. Choppers, also
commonly known as dc-to-dc converters which are used to get a variable dc voltage
from a dc source of fixed voltage. Because of the use DC voltage widely in electric
transportation and traction system, chopper controlled DC drives find a ready
application in that field.
DC-DC Converters are widely used for traction motor controls in electric
automobiles, trolley cars, marine hoists, forklift trucks and mine haulers. They
provide smooth acceleration control, high efficiency and fast dynamic response. DCDC converters can be effectively used in regenerative braking of DC motors to return
energy back into the supply and this feature results in energy savings for the
transportation systems with frequent stops.
Self commutated devices, such as MOSFETS. power transistors, IGBT (insulated
gate bipolar transistor), GTO ( gate turn-off thyristor) and IGCT (insulated gate
commutated thyristor). are preferred over thyristors for building choppers because
they can be commutated by a low power control signal and do not need commutation
circuit. Further, they can be operated at a higher frequency for the same rating. The
operation at a high frequency improves motor performance by reducing current ripple
and eliminating discontinuous conduction.
For any traction application a two quadrant converter with a pair of reversing switch
is necessary. Otherwise it is not possible for the motor to operate at all four quadrants
as it is mandatory for any motor to be capable of operating in all the four quadrants
employed for traction application.
55
In this design a Two Quadrant Class C DC-DC converter along with a pair of
reversing switch are used. The converter has a novel integrated feature of both PWM
and Hysteresis controller, where the PWM controller is used for variable voltage
operation of the motor (to run the vehicle at different speed) and hysteresis controller
is used for the purpose of current control. The designed system is shown in brief in
the following block diagram-
A typical class C converter is made of one pair of diode and one pair of switch.
Generally, it is made from one buck and one boost converter. For normal motoring
mode the circuit operates as buck controller. During braking of the motor which is
also known as regenerative braking, the converter operates as a boost converter to
feed back the stored kinetic energy of the motor to the source and thus reducing its
speed. A typical circuit is shown in Fig. 4.2.
56
57
The converter circuit is simulated in LTSpice in motoring mode. The output wave
shape of the converter are shown in the following-
58
Figure 4.4: Output current, voltage and PWM signal of the converter
59
60
The variable output voltage can be obtained by varying the duty cycle of the
converter. Variation of duty cycle is possible by varying the reference voltage of the
PWM comparator. Gate driving pulses with variable duty cycle are generated to
operate the motor in different speed. This signal along with the output of the
hysteresis controller are fed to an AND gate where the output of hysteresis controller
dominates over the PWM signal. If the Current of the motor at any point due to
application of the voltage exceeds the certain limit the output of the hysteresis
controller goes zero setting an output zero for and gate too and eventually turns of the
power supply to the motor.
Regenerative braking will be obtained as the converter operates in the 2nd quadrant.
Gate signal with appropriate duty cycle must be generated to provide the switching.
The circuit must contain a duty cycle varying feature where the duty cycle of the
gating pulses will be varied by sensing the terminal voltage of the motor during
regenerative braking. The duty cycle must be varied to keep the output voltage of the
converter fixed as the voltage of the motor will be gradually decreasing during the
period of regeneration and as a result the speed of the motor will be decreasing. If the
voltage at the output of the converter is not kept fixed and higher than the source
voltage, it will not be possible to feed the energy back to the source as current will
stop continuing to flow.
Simulation of regenerative braking is done assuming the stored kinetic energy will
eventually be given up and the motor will to come to a stop with no voltage across its
terminal. So, source voltage must be gradually decreasing during braking and to keep
the output voltage constant, the reference voltage of the comparator should be
increased accordingly to increase the duty cycle of gate driving signal. The simulated
circuit is shown in Figure 4.8.
61
62
Figure 4.9: Output Voltage and Current of the Boost converter during Braking
Figure 4.10: Generation of Reference signal to vary the duty cycle of the converter
63
Figure 4.11: Boost Converter Input Power due to the kinetic energy stored in the
vehicle
Figure 4.12: Boost Converter Output Power. The amount of energy which is equal to
the area under the curve, is feed back to the source
64
4.5 SUMMARY
This chapter has suggested such a design of the converter that is capable of varying
its output voltage and at the same time limits the excess current. The two quadrant
operation of the motor enables the motor to operate at both Forward motoring and
Forward regenerative braking. For reverse motoring reverse contacts are employed to
operate the motor in opposite direction.
65
CHAPTER 5
SIMULATION OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM
5.1
INTRODUCTION
5.2
SIMULATION RESULTS
All three sub systems are integrated and co-ordinated together to perform the
simulation work. The entire simulation is done for a 60 seconds run of the vehicle.
The simulated block in SIMULINK is shown in Figure.5.1.
66
67
Figure 5.2: Speed of the vehicle with winding change over technique.
69
Now for the purpose of comparison the simulated results for a series motor driven
electric vehicle with same characteristics as before will be presented in the following.
70
5.3
SUMMERY
Simulation of the overall system clearly signifies the fact that, the proposed method
of winding change over feature can improve the performance of an electric vehicle
when operated with a DC motor. The conventional traction loads are operated with
DC series motor. Final Speed obtained for the vehicle with the proposed system is
around 72kmph whereas, with conventional DC series motor, the obtained maximum
speed is 54kmph. But one thing that also should be focused here that, as the proposed
method is operating at a speed 18kmph higher than the conventional method energy
consumed by the motor will be more as the resistance force due to aerodynamic drag
offered by vehicle increases with the square of the velocity and hence power required
increases with the cube of the velocity.
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CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
7.1
SUMMARY
A Novel Switching technique along with a new concept is proposed for the purpose
of traction. The ideal characteristics
of an electric motor
drive for
traction
application in an electric and hybrid electric vehicle are high torque at low speed
region for fast acceleration, hill climbing and obstacle negotiation, and low
torque at high speed for normal driving. A single DC motor cannot fulfill all these
ideal requirements. But according to the proposed method of using a compound
motor with winding change over, the characteristics will be very close to the ideal
one. To minimize the power rating of the motor drive, therefore, the energy
storage requirement, at a given vehicle performance, the electric motor drive is
required to have a long constant power range to meet the torque and speed
demand.
Once again this proposed method enables the motor to maximize its
capability by prolonging its constant power. The effect of the motor characteristics
on the vehicle performance is analyzed, and the characteristics of three major
electric motors- induction motor, permanent magnet brushless DC motor and
switched reluctance motor are studied for literature review, where it has been
concluded that, though DC machines are now almost become obsolete, still it has the
maximum torque density and the most suitable characteristics for traction
application. This technique can further enhance that capability of the DC motor for
traction application as the result suggests an improvement in its performance
compare to the traditional one. Results show a better acceleration performance and
significant improvement in final speed of the vehicle. This technique minimizes the
power rating of the motor as it is operating at a longer constant power range due to
change over in its configurations. The high torque operation of the compound and
series configuration is utilized as well as the field long constant power range
operation of shunt configuration by field weakening is also being made use of. The
simulation results show that, the extended speed operation of the motor can reach up
72
to 3.5 times of the base speed which can never be obtained without the feature of
winding change over. At the same time it is also evident that, this method will
consume more power to run the vehicle and it is obvious that, the power consumption
will be more for higher speed of operation.
As stated earlier, the proposed method demands a relatively larger amount of power,
the most important task still left is to calculate the energy consumption of the vehicle
for per Kilometer of operation. This would provide the final concluding remark of
this study.
From this the Mileage of the vehicle for a given battery capacity can be very easily
determined which has not been done yet. At the same time for nominal operation of
the vehicle, the battery size and its capacity has to be determined.
Comparative study with other types motor can be done and then the motor with
optimum performance for traction application can be chosen.
Microcontroller can be used as the prime controller of the entire system which should
perform all the necessary control action and this would make the system more
optimum, flexible and adaptable to any operating condition.
Advanced algorithms like Fuzzy logic or Neuro-Fuzzy controller may be introduced
for system operation. These adaptive advanced algorithms may also be used to
replace the brushed DC motor by a Brushless DC motor which would be more
advanced and efficient compare to the conventional one.
Long constant power range of vehicle traction motor can effectively reduce
the required motor power rating for the given vehicle acceleration performance
and
at
the
same time,
the gradeability
of the vehicle
can he
enhanced
73
74