Comparison of Simulation and Test for Electric Vehicles of Recent Design

Comparisons have been made between data obtained from dynamometer tests of various electric vehicles and computer simulations of the same vehicle-battery combinations for several driving cycles. The vehicles included in the study were the ETV-1, Bedford Van, Unique Mobility, ETX-1, and DSEP(TB-1). The batteries studied were the ALCO 2200, Gel/cel 3, EV5T, ETX-100(CHL12), and the NIF-170. The comparisons indicated that the energy consumption values obtained using ELVEC agree within 10% with test data for both constant speed and variable power driving schedules. The range comparisons were less consistent, but the predictions agreed with the data to within 10% if the vehicle battery was in good condition and the controller did not limit battery power at low states-of-charge. Second-by-second comparisons of measured and calculated values of battery power and current during transient vehicle operation showed the agreement worse than would have been expected based on the good agreement found for cycle energy consumption. Further development of ELVEC is needed to complete its validation as an electric vehicle simulation code.