Work

Performance analysis of BLDC motor powertrains for electric two-wheelers using multimode drive cycles in Indian urban terrain

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding how electric two-wheeler powertrains behave under realistic operating conditions is essential for the growing Indian electric vehicle market. This study simulates a Brushless DC (BLDC) motor-driven electric two-wheeler over six drive cycles: three Indian standard cycles: Indian Drive cycle (IDC), Elementary Urban Drive Cycle (EUDC), Indian Urban Drive Cycle (IUDC) and three route- specific cycles for a 5.923 km round trip between VIT Vellore and Katpadi Railway Station. We generated two route-specific cycles, a continuous-flow and a stop-and-go cycle, from Google Directions, Google Elevation, and OpenWeatherMap API data. The third was developed from on-road speed measurements collected using an electric scooter over 21 trips. A MATLAB/Simulink model of the BLDC motor, inverter, battery and longitudinal vehicle dynamics was used to compute motor current, torque, battery voltage, state of charge (SoC) and energy consumption for each cycle. Over the same distance, the final SoC ranged from 89.67% (EUDC) to 95.8% (IUDC), and specific energy consumption ranged from 23.4 Wh/km (IUDC) to 57.55 Wh/km (EUDC). The API continuous-flow, API stop-and-go and measured cycles gave 27.13, 38.94 and 32.48 Wh/km, respectively. On the same route, adding traffic-signal stops increased energy consumption by about 43.5%. Energy is computed from the charge drawn at the nominal pack voltage of 60 V, so absolute values are conservative and should be read as comparisons between cycles. These results show that drive-cycle choice strongly affects simulated energy use and battery loading. The findings are simulation-based, cover a single route and vehicle configuration, and require validation with synchronised on-road measurements of battery voltage, current, energy and SoC.

Source: Engineering Research Express

DOI: 10.1088/2631-8695/aebf2c

Authors: Muhammed Inamu Rahman T, Santanu Kumar Dash

Institution: Vellore Institute of Technology University

Language: English

Topic: Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technologies

Subfield: Automotive Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Affordable and clean energy, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: VIT University