This paper describes first, the use of Powertrain Energy Estimator (PEE) tool to simulate and analyze the performance of the Pure Electric Vehicles (PEV’s) with all the powertrain components. The PEE uses basic physics calculations and measured components performance with the available vehicle parameters to model and simulate any conceptual PEV. The tool calculates the predicted torques, speeds, voltages, efficiency and power passed from one component to another then saves all the simulation results in a database for further user’s analysis. Secondly, we present a methodology to estimate the maximum power capacity required for PEV driving electric machine (E-Motor). The estimation approach is based on creating a power map, which combines the contour lines for all power levels over vehicle speeds/road climbing grades required for the PEV powertrain driving component (E-Motor) to meet all the vehicle’s performance requirements. The evaluation of the power map uses the vehicle’s specifications and performance requirements. The performance requirements are mainly cover the maximum vehicle speed, acceleration time and road climbing grade.
Two types of PEV platform applications are considered in this paper for simulation and analysis: A 10 meters Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) commercial PEV transit bus with two speeds transmission gearbox, the second application is a typical Front Wheel Drive (FWD) OEM PEV passenger car with a single speed transmission gearbox.