In recent years, many motorsports have been developing competitions based on electric vehicles. The demanding performance requires the battery pack to have the perfect balance between energy, power, and weight. This research paper presents a systematic methodology for the initial design of the battery pack (size and cell chemistry) by statistically analyzing the characteristics of the mission profile.
The power profile for the battery pack of a motorsport vehicle can be estimated by considering the duty cycle of a racing car using the technical and sporting regulations and vehicle parameters. In this paper, many statistical metrics correlated to this power profile have been defined and analyzed (such as the max, mean, and standard deviation of the power profile, the total energy consumed, and the expected heat generation). These metrics have been used to estimate the cell energy and power density requirement and the pack sizing considering the weight constraints. A formal methodology to streamline the design process is proposed and applied to a Formula E (gen 2) car, an electric go-kart, two electric motorcycles used for time trials, and two land speed race vehicles: Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3, and Venturi Voxan Wattman. The results show that the proposed methodology can successfully identify the size and chemistry of the battery pack that can fulfill the duty cycle while minimizing weight.