Driving shaft lifetime enhancement by hybrid electrification

As a classical definition, the main aim of hybrid electric vehicle technology is to decrease the fuel consumption and emissions with the assistance of its power management algorithm. However, hybrid electric vehicles could also be optimized for fatigue minimization of the driving shaft to enhance its lifetime. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on hybrid electric vehicles regarding this concept. In this study, we model a conventional vehicle, convert it into hybrid electric vehicle in simulation environment, and optimize the power management algorithm by considering its driving shaft lifetime enhancement. The optimization is done by redesigning one of the previous equivalent cost minimization strategy studies, which includes a new state of charge sustaining approach. In this work, we reformulate the solution considering the assumptive torque–cycle life curve of the driving shaft instead of fuel consumption or emissions. Longitudinal vehicle model is prepared for simulations and the performance of the new strategy is compared with the conventional vehicle under the real driving cycle data. The results demonstrate a significant enhancement potential of 26% in driving shaft’s lifetime. Finally, we show the additional electric motor’s optimum torque tracking performance under a real driving cycle using the experimental testbed.