A study of Electric motor configuration for Multi Axle Electric Heavy Duty Commercial Truck Application to attain maximum potential of Torque vectoring

As the air pollution level rises around the globe, the need for alternative sources of energy increases, and this need is applicable to automotive industry also. Commercial vehicles are one of the major sources of air pollution around the world as they have impactful applicability in our day to day life. With growing advancement in mobility solutions, commercial vehicles are undergoing transformation to improve efficiency, safety and performance. One of the emerging technologies is of torque vectoring which is a concept used to provide better traction and stability to the vehicle in different driving conditions and used in the vehicle having multi motor configuration. Advance torque vectoring concept coupled with electric motor can react to dynamic driving conditions by providing instant torque. The concept of torque vectoring can be useful for heavy commercial vehicles used in off-road applications such as mining because torque vectoring helps in better weight management, cornering stability and better drivability on different road surface conditions. Torque vectoring improves overall dynamics of the vehicle to provide better traction and improving maneuverability. This paper discusses different configurations for electric motor placement to achieve maximum potential for torque vectoring for a multi axle heavy commercial electric vehicle used in off-road applications. An overview of torque vectoring control approach used for this study is also explained in this paper. Different configurations were studied by varying the number and placement of motors on both the rear axle. These configurations are analyzed by running the simulation in the Simulink-Trucksim co-simulation environment. The simulation data is further analyzed on different parameters like steering angle, yaw rate, and torque distribution by individual motors to determine the best configuration for the vehicle to attain maximum potential of torque vectoring.