MESMO-EV: Multiple Energy Storage systems Management Optimization for Electric Vehicles
Project Description
Modern societies and its development are based on oil economy. Oil is a scarce good and its consumption is a major factor of pollution, both at local and global levels. Concerning people and goods transportation, Electric Vehicles (EVs) can have a very relevant contribution to solve these energy and pollution problems. Despite their very good dynamic characteristics, low maintenance and energy costs, and other advantages, a wider use of EVs in our society is being delayed due to its lack of driving range and high price when compared with internal combustion engine vehicles. The lack of a wide driving range is mainly due to the utilization of batteries as the main source of energy. In the last years the batteries characteristics have evolved greatly but not enough and new ways of storing energy have been developed, being good examples the fuel cells and the supercapacitors. The storing energy systems have different and complimentary characteristics: for example, the fuel cell and some recent or with good future potential batteries (e.g. Li-Air and Zinc Air) have high energy density and low power density and the supercapacitors the opposite.
The project presented in this proposal has then four strongly connected objectives:
1) To implement energy and power management integrated systems (hardware and software) for multiple sources EVs, using management algorithms based on Metaheuristic Methods and Decision Process Methods.
2) To evaluate the diverse algorithms performance taking into account in an explicit manner different axes of evaluation of the Merits of potential management strategies in distinct contexts and/or with different user preferences/profiles, namely on computational effort, real time and onboard implementation capability, autonomy increase and sources life time extent.
3) To improve the scientific and technologic knowledge of the project's team members in the EVs field;
4) To improve the existing EV prototype through the energy power sources/storage devices management to be used as a research and development platform to this and future projects in the sustainable mobility area.
