Evaluation of Energy Recovery Potential through Regenerative Braking for a Hybrid Electric Vehicle in a Real Urban Drive Scenario 2016-36-0348

The need for improved fuel economy for road vehicles has increased the interest in hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and recovering vehicle energy. This paper aims to evaluate the amount of kinetic energy that could be restored through regenerative braking in a HEV. This work will not resort the Brazilian urban driving cycle NBR 6601, for this cycle does not fully represent a pattern of traffic faced regularly in urban areas, which is typically composed of heavy traffic and long periods of idleness. Therefore, a new drive cycle will be developed that better represents the Brazilian traffic. Also, considering the shortage of energy resources, the large amount of energy dissipated as heat during braking a vehicle is a recurring concern. Therefore, measuring the maximum available energy that could be restored through regenerative braking is the first step towards estimating the profit of using this technology and how it would pay off the investment in the long run. Thus, a longitudinal vehicle dynamics model is implemented using MATLAB/Simulink in order to simulate a small-size hybrid vehicle undergoing the cycle set up and assess the energy balance looking forward to the energy available for recovery.