Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information

An electric vehicle’s Distance to Empty (DTE) is defined as the actual distance the vehicle can be driven before recharging is required. A real-time estimate is commonly displayed on the vehicle’s electronic instrument cluster and is used by the driver to plan their route. It is proved in this paper...

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Main Authors: Wilhelm, Erik, Frey, Daniel, Rodgers, Lennon Patrick
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Published: ASME International 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119235
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9886-7512
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author Wilhelm, Erik
Frey, Daniel
Rodgers, Lennon Patrick
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Wilhelm, Erik
Frey, Daniel
Rodgers, Lennon Patrick
author_sort Wilhelm, Erik
collection MIT
description An electric vehicle’s Distance to Empty (DTE) is defined as the actual distance the vehicle can be driven before recharging is required. A real-time estimate is commonly displayed on the vehicle’s electronic instrument cluster and is used by the driver to plan their route. It is proved in this paper that the challenge for any DTE estimation algorithm is to accurately predict the future energy consumption of a vehicle. Future energy can be predicted reliably if either (i) future energy consumption is sufficiently similar to the past or (ii) applicable information about the future is known beforehand. A stochastic simulation was used to show that the average energy use (Wh/km) measured over the past ∼300 km often does an adequate job at predicting future energy use. A conventional DTE algorithm assumes this condition by “blending” both a long- and short-term average of past energy use. However, significant changes in driving conditions (e.g. traffic or auxiliary energy use) for sustained periods of time can cause large errors in DTE estimates. This paper showed that DTE error can be reduced if those future changes are detected beforehand by obtaining route information from the driver. For example, if the driver provides their destination(s) beforehand, a navigation system could obtain route, traffic and weather information via the internet and use this information to improve the DTE estimate. A multivariate linear regression model was derived that adjusts a historical average of energy consumption based on estimated changes in speeds, traffic and temperature. This method utilizes the measuring ability of the vehicle and thus does not require complex physics-based models. The algorithm could be implemented as a cloud-based mobile phone application since it is computationally light and the model is fitted using historical driving data. Finally, the algorithms were compared using a stochastic vehicle simulation and it was shown that incorporating future route information can significantly reduce DTE error.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1192352022-09-29T16:38:10Z Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information Wilhelm, Erik Frey, Daniel Rodgers, Lennon Patrick Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Frey, Daniel Rodgers, Lennon Patrick An electric vehicle’s Distance to Empty (DTE) is defined as the actual distance the vehicle can be driven before recharging is required. A real-time estimate is commonly displayed on the vehicle’s electronic instrument cluster and is used by the driver to plan their route. It is proved in this paper that the challenge for any DTE estimation algorithm is to accurately predict the future energy consumption of a vehicle. Future energy can be predicted reliably if either (i) future energy consumption is sufficiently similar to the past or (ii) applicable information about the future is known beforehand. A stochastic simulation was used to show that the average energy use (Wh/km) measured over the past ∼300 km often does an adequate job at predicting future energy use. A conventional DTE algorithm assumes this condition by “blending” both a long- and short-term average of past energy use. However, significant changes in driving conditions (e.g. traffic or auxiliary energy use) for sustained periods of time can cause large errors in DTE estimates. This paper showed that DTE error can be reduced if those future changes are detected beforehand by obtaining route information from the driver. For example, if the driver provides their destination(s) beforehand, a navigation system could obtain route, traffic and weather information via the internet and use this information to improve the DTE estimate. A multivariate linear regression model was derived that adjusts a historical average of energy consumption based on estimated changes in speeds, traffic and temperature. This method utilizes the measuring ability of the vehicle and thus does not require complex physics-based models. The algorithm could be implemented as a cloud-based mobile phone application since it is computationally light and the model is fitted using historical driving data. Finally, the algorithms were compared using a stochastic vehicle simulation and it was shown that incorporating future route information can significantly reduce DTE error. 2018-11-20T18:41:54Z 2018-11-20T18:41:54Z 2013-08 2018-11-16T15:16:37Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 978-0-7918-5584-3 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119235 Rodgers, Lennon, Daniel Frey, and Erik Wilhelm. “Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s ‘Distance to Empty’ Using Both Past and Future Route Information.” Volume 1: 15th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 10th International Conference on Design Education; 7th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems, Portland, Oregon, USA, August 4–7, 2013. © 2013 ASME International https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9886-7512 http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/DETC2013-12880 Volume 1: 15th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 10th International Conference on Design Education; 7th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf ASME International ASME
spellingShingle Wilhelm, Erik
Frey, Daniel
Rodgers, Lennon Patrick
Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title_full Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title_fullStr Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title_full_unstemmed Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title_short Estimating an Electric Vehicle’s “Distance to Empty” Using Both Past and Future Route Information
title_sort estimating an electric vehicle s distance to empty using both past and future route information
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119235
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9886-7512
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