Automotive: Hybrid vehicle control
Handle without care
- Published in Technology.
Better drive
The EDC has been incorporated in MIRA's 4WD
Who
Engineers at MIRA have developed a system they say makes driving electric hybrid vehicles a more dynamic experience.
Technology
Electric dynamic control (EDC), uses in-board, high-torque independently controlled motors on the rear axle. Chief project engineer and vehicle Lorenzo Pinto said: “We have developed a system for effectively and reliably controlling yaw and lateral response to deliver the dynamic appeal missing from the majority of hybrid vehicles.
“The electric motors provide supplementary drive torque in opposite phase to generate a yaw moment that controls the vehicle’s response towards a given target. The effect is similar to a torque vectoring differential but without the complexity and has the advantage of using hardware that may already be in place in hybrid and electric vehicles.
“The system is ideally suited to vehicles with existing front-wheel drive, because the rear-mounted motors do not corrupt steering feedback, and for improving agility rather than stability – since interventions to correct oversteer can only be delivered to the point that the rear tyres become saturated. That is when a master safety feature such as electronic stability control steps in.”
The EDC system places no additional requirements on batteries and has been incorporated into MIRA’s hybrid 4-wheel drive vehicle.
Application
MIRA believes that the technology will yield greater benefits as the market for petrol-electric hybrids matures. “The market trend is for mild/full hybrids that use one electric motor, such as the Peugeot Hybrid4,” said Pinto. “The use of two rear motors is a logical next step.”