With the need for a compact system of transportation, the auto-rickshaw has evolved over the years, and since then auto-rickshaws have proven to be an important means of public transport. Lately, auto-rickshaws have been contributing enormously to air pollution. Due to this, people are preferring alternative means of transportation, and electrification is one of them.
Electrification of auto-rickshaws results in a low-cost and environment-friendly source of transportation in urban cities where pollution rates are alarmingly high. The efficiency of electric auto-rickshaws plays a significant role because it has to compete with the present internal combustion (IC) engine auto-rickshaws and should have a higher priority to be chosen as the public’s option of transport.
The primary aim of this project is to optimize the electric powertrain for auto-rickshaws by minimizing the consumption of energy. It has been done by two methods, namely, optimizing the design of the powertrain and optimizing the driving conditions of the auto-rickshaw. To accomplish this optimization, a simplified vehicle model and genetic algorithm (GA) are implemented. MATLAB/Simulink software is used for the simulation work