Suggested Citation: A. Burke (2014) "Power and Energy Requirements for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles" in D. Crolla, D.E. Foster, T. Kobayashi and N. Vaughan (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Automotive Engineering, John Wiley & Sons Ltd: Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9781118354179.auto063. Published 4/22/2014. 

In this chapter, the power and energy requirements (both electricity and gasoline) for battery-powered electric and hybrid vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicle, are assessed. The influence of the vehicle design parameters (weight, frontal area, drag coefficient, and tire rolling resistance) on vehicle performance (range, speed, and acceleration) is determined based on simulations of several classes of vehicles.

The power and energy requirements were calculated for both parallel and series powertrain arrangements using the Advisor vehicle simulation computer program. The simulations were performed for several driving cycles (FUDS, Highway, and the US06) for vehicle and component characteristics expected to be appropriate for 2015–2045. The simulation results indicated that large reductions in fuel consumption and energy use can be expected in future with the various advanced technologies. The magnitudes of the reductions depend on the baseline used in the comparisons. The energy savings (gasoline plus electricity including powerplant efficiency) are about 60% for all the hybrid technologies considered using the 2007 ICE vehicle baseline and about 30% using the 2030 ICE baseline. The energy savings (electricity) for the EV are smaller than for the hybrids especially compared with the advanced ICE and HEV technologies. The primary advantage of the EV is the substitution of electricity for a liquid fuel.

Keywords:  battery pack; energy stored; peak power; fuel economy; plug-in hybrid; lithium battery; vehicle simulations