Investigations on the energy saving potential of X-by-wire chassis systems and advanced integrated control strategies

This paper describes real-world driving tests with a battery-electric sport utility vehicle equipped with innovative chassis actuators such as high-torque in-wheel machines and a hybrid brake-by-wire (BBW) system tailored specifically for electric vehicles. In addition, the vehicle incorporates a new E/E architecture and communication bus systems to integrate the new components into the global bus network. Integrated control functions are used to investigate the potential of the new by-wire actuators to improve energy efficiency. To this end, the vehicle is tested in comparison with a series vehicle. The focus of the presented experiments is on the energy saving potential through integrated control of the subsystems for different functions such as regenerative wheel slip control or torque blending. At the end, a comparison is made between the baseline vehicle with standard centralized powertrain and friction braking system and the demonstrator with the adapted actuators to show the advantages in terms of overall efficiency and energy consumption.