IIT Madras develop strategies to improve the braking performance of electric and hybrid vehicles

Chennai: IIT Madras has developed new strategies to improve electric and hybrid vehicles' braking performance in a research done by IIT Madras Professor CS Shankar Ram from Department of Engineering Design and his PhD student Dr VS Kesavan. The new strategies can improve the stopping distance and ride comfort in the presence of regenerative braking. The study has been published in the journal 'Vehicle System Dynamics'.

The researchers explored different strategies to incorporate the effect of different dynamic characteristics of 'regenerative brake' and 'friction brake' on a vehicle's braking performance.

Professor CS Shankar Ram said that the research focuses on the braking of electrified heavy road vehicles. It detailed two braking systems in electrified vehicles: 'friction-based' and 'regenerative braking system'.

According to the study, "magnitude of regenerative braking is insufficient to stop the vehicle under all conditions since regenerative braking alone cannot typically provide high deceleration. Therefore, to ensure energy conservation, in electrified vehicles, both friction and regenerative braking should be used in a co-operative manner."

Adding to this, Professor Shankar Ram said, "Regenerative braking's switch off can cause momentary perturbations in vehicle's deceleration due to the faster response of it."

Researchers further added, "Such strategies have developed for lighter road vehicles, but there is a lack of strategies through which the braking performance of heavy commercial road vehicles like buses and trucks can be improved through regenerative braking."