Quantitative Analysis of a Hybrid Electric HMMWV for Fuel Economy Improvement

This paper presents a quantitative analysis and comparison of fuel economy and performance of a series hybrid electric HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle) military vehicle with a conventional HMMWV of equivalent size. Hybrid vehicle powertrains show improved fuel economy gains due to optimized engine operation and regenerative braking. In this paper, a methodology is presented by which the fuel economy gains due to optimized engine are isolated from the fuel economy gains due to regenerative braking. Validated vehicle models as well as data collected on test tracks are used in the quantitative analysis. The regenerative braking of the hybrid HMMWV is analyzed in terms of efficiency from the kinetic energy at the wheels to the portion of regenerative power which is retrievable by the battery. The engine operation of both the series hybrid and conventional HMMWV are analyzed using a 2-D bin analysis methodology. Finally, the vehicle model is used to make recommendations on improving the fuel economy of the series hybrid as well as the conventional HMMWV.