Modeling and Optimal Design of All-Wheel-Drive Hybrid Light Trucks

Fuel economy and performance are both important in the design of hybrid pickup trucks. All-wheel drive is essential to ensure superior performance compared to two-wheel-drive designs. In this article, as a comprehensive extension work to the article published in ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference [1] on all-wheel-drive (AWD) hybrid truck, we investigate the modeling, design, and control problem of AWD hybrid vehicles and develop a methodology to identify optimal designs. This methodology 1) formulates an automated modeling process, 2) searches exhaustively through all possible AWD designs, and 3) employs a near-optimal energy management strategy, to obtain a family of designs with superior performance and fuel economy. A design case study for a hybrid Ford F-150 is conducted, to showcase this design process.