Planning and Application of Electric Vehicle with
MATLAB®/Simulink®
Aalok Bhatt
Research and Development
Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd.
Gandhinagar-382044, India
aalok_bhatt@hitachi-hirel.com
Abstract—Vehicular emissions have major impact on global
warming. Many countries have had serious considerations about
it and have delved into developing alternative fuel technologies.
The most optimistic choice for powering electric vehicles at
present and the immediate future is battery electric power. The
global automobile manufacturers are investing heavily in
research of battery run efficient electric vehicles. This paper
demonstrates step-by-step mathematical calculations and
simulation modeling of Electric Vehicle (EV). In this paper, EV
namely “Mahindra e2o” from a leading automobile manufacturer
of India, Mahindra & Mahindra has been simulated and
analyzed in MATLAB®/Simulink® platform. The simulation
model is equipped with recuperation capability of EV. Its
performance has been investigated by simulation results for
various vehicle velocity inputs and summarized in terms of
vehicle range and Battery State of Charge (SOC). Furthermore,
vehicle range and SOC are evaluated and summarized with
variation of input parameters at the end of this paper. This
summary can give significant insight to improve the range of this
EV. This paper is developed in such a way that it can act as ready
reference for the design, simulation and analysis of EV.
Keywords—Mathematical Modeling; MATLAB®/Simulink®;
Simulation; Electric Vehicles; SOC Optimization; Automotive drive
cycles; Energy efficiency
I. INTRODUCTION
Adoption of electric cars especially in developing nations
of Asia-Pacific is showing a healthy increase over the past few
years. The trend of vehicle units sold versus year is shown in
following figure.
Fig. 1. Electric vehicles sales, Asia Pacific and Rest of the world [1]
“Mahindra & Mahindra,” a leading automobile
manufacturer in India, has recently jumped into the
development and production of one of the most economical
978-1-4673-8888-7/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
Battery powered electric car namely Mahindra e2o. This
vehicle is analytically calculated with the help of its technical
specifications [2]. Detailed analytical calculation of EV is
demonstrated in literatures [3]-[5]. The EV can be designed in
MATLAB®/Simulink® environment based on analytical
calculation thereby giving intuitive performance results of the
implemented vehicle model [7]-[9]. The analytical calculation
and simulation model will be developed in this paper. The
results will be summarized in forms of various tables for
reader. The vehicle will be simulated for various velocity
inputs such as constant speed and various driving cycles [10].
This paper summarizes performance results for constant
velocity inputs, New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and
Indian Driving Cycle (IDC). Simulation results for different
input parameters will also be summarized. Drag coefficient cw
of the vehicle is assumed to be 0.3 which is a good
approximation since the vehicle top speed is 81 kmph. The
Frontal Area A of the vehicle is calculated to be 2.36 m2 [6].
Wheel diameter is calculated from wheel-rim layout.
H
DrimH
Fig. 2. Wheel-rim Layout
Ratio between Rim diameter in
width and height Inch
155/70 R 13
𝐷wheel = 𝐷rim + 2𝐻 = 0.5472 𝑚
II. ANALYTICAL CALCULATION FOR 50 KMPH
This section shows step-by-step analytical calculation of
considered EV for vehicle velocity, 𝑣 = 50 kmph = 13.89 ms-1.
Simulation model will be based on these calculations.
A. Calculation of Resistive Forces
It is drag resistance due to wind as the vehicle drives forward.
1
𝐹L = ∗ 𝜌 ∗ 𝐴 ∗ 𝑣 2 ∗ 𝑐w (1)
2
 Motor parameters can be calculated by assuming gearbox
= 0.5 ∗ 1.2 ∗ 2.36 ∗ 13.892 ∗ 0.3 = 81.6 𝑁 efficiency 𝜂g as 0.98 and given gear ratio 𝑖 as 8.59.
Here, ρ – Air Density, A – Frontal area of vehicle, cw – Drag Motor torque (Mm)
coefficient and v – Driving velocity of vehicle 𝑀 62.12 (9)
𝑀m = S = = 7.4 𝑁𝑚
Rolling resistance (FR) 𝜂g ∗𝑖 8.59∗0.98

This resistance is mainly due to the friction between wheels Motor Speed (nm)
𝑛m = 𝑛s ∗ 𝑖 = 4166 𝑟𝑝𝑚 (10)
and road. It is calculated as
Motor Power (Pm)
𝐹R = 𝑚. 𝑔. 𝑓r (2) 𝑀 (11)
𝑃m = 𝜋 ∗ 𝑛m ∗ m = 3230 𝑊
Here, m – Mass of the vehicle, g – Acceleration due to gravity 30
and 𝑓r – Coefficient of rolling friction. Value of 𝑓r depends on The efficiency curves for considered Asynchronous machine
the vehicle speed, tyre type and tyre pressure. It is given by (ASM) is available from which motor efficiency is calculated
following relation [6] to be, 𝜂m = 0.854 for 𝑀m = 7.4 𝑁𝑚 and 𝑛m = 166 𝑟𝑝𝑚.
𝑣 𝑣 4 (3)
𝑓r = 𝑓R0 + 𝑓R1 ( ) + 𝑓R4 ( )
27.78 27.78
The coefficients fR0, fR1 and fR4 are obtained from three
standard graphs for different tyre thread patterns and various
Vehicle speeds [6].

Fig. 4. Efficiency-Torque-Speed Curve of ASM – Inverter System

C. Calculation of Battery Parameters

By considering the constant auxiliary consumption 𝑃aux of 350
Fig. 3. fR0, fR1 and fR4 for different tyre pressures [6] W, battery power is calculated as
𝑃 (12)
𝑃𝐵 = 𝑃aux + m = 4130 𝑊
Thus, 𝜂m

13.89 13.89 4 From the discharge curves provided by the battery

𝑓r = [0.9 + 0.15 ( ) + 0.12 ( ) ] ∗ 10−2 = 0.0098
27.78 27.78 manufacturer, battery no-load voltage 𝑈B0 and internal
Therefore, 𝐹R = 0.0098 ∗ 1000 ∗ 9.81 = 96.38 𝑁 Resistance 𝑅Bi can be calculated.
Bearing and Mechanical Friction (FB)
The rotating mechanical parts such as bearing, shaft and others
offer some resistance. This resistance not only depends on
their installation with proper alignment during manufacturing
but also on lubrication.
𝐹B = 𝑚. 𝑔. 𝑘B (4)
Here, 𝑘B – Constant for a vehicle which accounts for bearing
and mechanical friction. Value of 𝑘B is assumed to be 0.005
for the vehicle. Thus, 𝐹B = 0.005 ∗ 1000 ∗ 9.81 = 49.05 𝑁
B. Calculation of Vehicle Shaft and Motor Parameters
Shaft Force (FS)
𝐹S = 𝐹L + 𝐹R + 𝐹B = 227.03 𝑁 (5)
Shaft Power (PS)
Fig. 5. Discharge Curves of Battery [2]
𝑃S = 𝐹S ∗ 𝑣 = 3150 𝑊 (6)
Shaft Speed (ns)
𝑣 For 80% State of Charge, SOC (i.e. 20% Depth of Discharge,
𝑛s = 60 ∗ = 485 𝑟𝑝𝑚 (7)
𝜋∗ 𝐷wheel DOD), from 1C and 0.5C curves following equations can be
Shaft torque (Ms) written
𝑀S = 𝐹S ∗ 𝑅wheel = 62.12 𝑁𝑚 (8)
3.25 = 𝑈B0 − 𝑅Bi (200) The EV will be modelled in MATLAB®/Simulink®. The basic
3.30 = 𝑈B0 − 𝑅Bi (100) building blocks of model can be seen in Fig. 6.
Solving above two equations, values of 𝑅Bi = 0.5 𝑚𝛺 and Motor/Inverter
Gear Box
𝑈B0 = 3.35 𝑉 per battery cell. In e2o, there are 16 such cells Velocity
Inputs
Aerodynamic
Model
Model with
model with
efficiency lookup
Battery
Model
Recuperation
and Recuperation
in series which form the battery pack. Hence for battery pack,
Multiport
𝑅Bi = 8 𝑚𝛺 and 𝑈B0 = 53.6 𝑉. Selector
Switch Additional Inputs of
From these values, the battery current IB can be calculated, Additional Inputs of
1. Battery internal Resistance
2. Battery No load Voltage
𝑈 𝑈 2 𝑃 (13) 1. Vehicle mass 3. Constant Auxiliary
𝐼B = B0 − √( B0 ) – B 2. Slope consumption
2𝑅Bi 2𝑅Bi 𝑅Bi

53.6 53.6 2 4130 Fig. 6. Basic Simulation Block Diagram

= − √( ) – = 77.96 A
2∗8∗10−3 2∗8∗10−3 8∗10−3
From battery current, SOC and range of the vehicle is A. Aerodynamic Model
calculated. Assuming vehicle runtime of 1 hour, total charge Q This model dynamically calculates total shaft force, shaft
can be calculated as, torque and shaft power. The vehicle mass and slope are given
3600
Q= ∫0 𝐼B 𝑑𝑡 = 280654 𝐶 as external inputs to understand their effects on results.
Nominal charge of battery, 𝑄N = 200 Ah = 720000 𝐶.
From Q and QN, SOC can be calculated as follows.
𝑄 −𝑄
𝑆𝑂𝐶 = N = 0.6102 = 61.02 %
𝑄N
Range of the vehicle for its 3600 seconds run can be
calculated.
3600 (14)
𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = ∫0 13.89 𝑑𝑡 = 50.004 𝑘𝑚
D. Calculation of Vehicle Acceleration
The motor rated torque for e2o is 53 Nm. Gearbox in between
motor and vehicle shaft is responsible for speed transition
from shaft to wheel. From motor parameters, acceleration can
be calculated as follows.
𝑀wheel = 𝑖 ∗ 𝑀m ∗ 𝜂g = 8.59 ∗ 53 ∗ 0.98 = 446.16 𝑁𝑚 Fig. 7. Aerodynamic Model in Simulink®
Force on wheel can be calculated by,
𝑀 446.16 B. Gear Box Model
𝐹wheel = wheel = = 1631 𝑁 (15)
𝑟wheel 0.2736 In considered EV, there is only one gear box with gear ratio
This is the total force required by rotating mass to overcome 8.59. Gear box efficiency is assumed to be 98%. Gearbox will
acceleration. Thus acceleration, transform not only the speed but also the torque and power at
𝐹 1631 (16)
𝑎calculated = wheel = = 1.48 𝑚𝑠 −2 vehicle shaft. The model includes the motoring as well as
𝑚∗𝜆 1000∗1.1
The manufacturer provided value is, recuperation mode (subscript ‘r’).
𝛥𝑉 16.67 (17)
𝑎provided = = = 1.45 𝑚𝑠 −2
𝛥𝑇 11.5
By comparing calculated and provided acceleration values, one
can see that they are in close proximity thereby confirming the
correctness of performed analytical calculations.
III. SIMULATION MODEL
The aim of simulation model is to simulate and analyse
performance of vehicle for different velocity inputs and
variation of parameters. For the efficient design, all EVs have
recuperation capability. Recuperation function means that Fig. 8. Gear Box Model in Simulink®
when additional power is available at vehicle shaft (e.g. in
case of braking), then this power is supplied back efficiently to C. Motor-Inverter Model
the battery and increase its current State of Charge (SOC) The output of gear box model acts as input to this model.
rather than wasting it. This increases the vehicle range and Efficiency is determined from ASM power and torque data
efficiency. Furthermore, Battery is a key performance (Fig. 4) configured as 2-D look up table. Same efficiency
indicator for EV and its internal parameters such as voltage curve is used for motoring as well as recuperation mode. The
and internal resistance are deterministic parameters for drawn output of this block is battery power drawn or supplied as per
or supplied battery current. For the long battery life, generally motoring/recuperation mode.
around 80% consumption is allowed and the rest is reserved.

Fig. 9. Motor-Inverter Model in Simulink®
D. Battery Model
The battery power calculated above is added with an assumed
constant auxiliary consumption of 350 W. The battery open
circuit voltage and internal resistance are assumed to be non-
varying throughout the simulation.
Fig. 10. Battery Model in Simulink®
By combining above models, complete simulation model can
be developed. Simulation results are discussed in next section.
Fig. 11. EV model in Simulink®
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
The simulation can be done for various vehicle velocities and
other vehicle parameters, as listed in Table I. In the table, α
denotes slope of road surface. In this section, simulation
results for NEDC and IDC are discussed.
TABLE I. PARAMETERS SET FOR SIMULATION
Parameters
α [%] m [kg] i cw A [m2]
values 0 1000 8.59 0.3 2.36
A. New European Driving Cycle (NEDC)
The typical NEDC characteristic has acceleration and
deceleration components as seen from the Fig.12. This will
produce a positive force when accelerating and negative force
when decelerating as seen in Total Shaft Force characteristics.
Fig. 12. NEDC (Top) and Total Shaft force (Bottom) versus Time
The shaft power and motor power difference in Fig. 13 comes
from gear ratio and gear box efficiency. The battery power
depends on auxiliary consumption, motor power and motor
efficiency value. Motor efficiency is determined from look-up
table at given motor power and torque. The SOC reduction is
smoother in NEDC due to smooth acceleration and
deceleration components in its characteristics. The results can
be seen in following Fig.13 and Fig.14.
Fig. 13. Total Shaft Power and Total Motor Power versus Time
Fig. 14. Total Battery Power and State of charge (SOC) versus Time
B. Indian Driving Cycle (IDC)
The typical IDC characteristic has transients in acceleration
and deceleration with strong deceleration components (Fig.
15). This will cause heavy spikes in results of shaft force, shaft
power, motor power and battery power as seen in Fig. 16
below. Due to frequent deceleration phases in IDC as
compared to NEDC, the recuperation capability in IDC is
superior as compared to NEDC. Therefore, SOC for IDC is
much better than that of NEDC. However, SOC reduction is
not as smooth as that of NEDC due to strong deceleration
components of IDC as seen in Fig. 17.
Fig. 15. IDC (Top) and Total Shaft force (Bottom) versus Time
Considered EV has claimed range of 120 km for a complete
charge cycle under ideal conditions. The analytical and
simulation results presented here matches closely with
manufacturer specified data.
D. Variation of Parameters
The simulation can be done for NEDC and IDC with different
input parameters viz. vehicle mass (m), slope of surface (α),
frontal area (A), drag co-efficient (cw) and gear ratio (i). The
significant information can be extracted by analysing results
with variation of parameters. As an example, the impact of
variation of gear ratio from 8.59 to 10.5 can be observed for
NEDC and IDC inputs as under.

Fig. 18. Effect of gear ratio on NEDC results

Fig. 16. Total Shaft Power and Total Motor Power versus Time

Fig. 19. Effect of gear ratio on IDC results

Fig. 17. Total Battery Power and State of charge (SOC) versus Time It is observed that, the higher gear ratio yields better SOC
owing to higher motor speed. The SOC and range
C. Range of Electric Vehicle for different inputs and SOC improvement for IDC with higher gear ratio is significant as
The range of considered EV can be evaluated by simulation compared to corresponding change for NEDC. This is because
for different inputs with parameters set of Table I. Below table of strong deceleration components and transients of IDC
shows driving range of EV for different inputs with 80% and which in turn enhances recuperation capability of EV thereby
100% SOC consumption. It is observed that, EV range for improving SOC and range. Likewise, different input
IDC is much better than NEDC due to better recuperation parameters can be varied for NEDC and IDC and results can
capability of IDC. be tabulated as shown in Table III.
From the table, it is observed that the range is highly
TABLE II. SIMULATION RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT INPUTS dependent on listed parameters therein. Large angle of
80% SOC 100% SOC inclination of surface (e.g. hilly area) reduces vehicle range
Input
Input drastically. By decreasing the frontal area and drag coefficient
Type Range [km] Range [km]
cw of vehicle, air resistance will be lower which can increase
NEDC 64.04 79.89 the top speed of vehicle. Vehicle mass also plays a significant
Driving
Indian 82.92 103.60 role in influencing the driving range. Increment in vehicle
Cycles
Japanese 76.27 95.11 mass reduces the range of EV. The kerb weight of EV can be
Constant 50 kmph 102.80 128.50 reduced effectively by reducing the battery mass thereby
Velocity 81 kmph 67.56 84.46 improving driving range. These are important parameters
which have to be optimised to achieve the desired vehicle [5] A. Wicaksono, A.S. Prihatmanto, “Optimal control system design for
electric vehicle,” 4th International Conference on Interactive Digital
range and performance. Media (ICIDM), pp. 1-6, Bandung - Indonesia, 2015.
[6] M. Mitschke, Dynamik der Kraftzeuge, Band A- Antrieb und
TABLE III. SIMULATION RESULTS FOR VARIATION OF PARAMETERS
Bremsung, 3rd ed., Springer Publication, 1995.
Range of Vehicle [7] K.L. Butler, M. Ehsani, and P. Kamath: “A matlab-based modeling and
Variation of simulation package for electric and hybrid electric vehicle design,” IEEE
Para- Simulated (for 80% SOC)
Parameters Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 1770–1778, Nov. 1999.
meter for [km] [8] A.Luhle, T. Date, “A design & matlab simulation of motor drive used
From To Before After for electric vehicle,” International Conference on Control,
NEDC 64.04 41.76 Instrumentation, Communication and Computational Technologies
α 0 2 (ICCICCT), pp. 739-743, 2015.
IDC 82.92 51.61
[9] J. Zhou, X. Shen, D. Liu, “Modeling and simulation for electric vechicle
NEDC 64.04 59.22
m 1000 1140 powertrain controls,” Transportation Electrification Asia-Pacific (ITEC
IDC 82.92 74.66 Asia-Pacific), IEEE Conference and Expo, pp. 1-4, 2014.
NEDC 64.04 67.6 [10] H. Neudorfer, Weiterentwicklung von Elektrischen Antriebssystemen
cw 0.3 0.26 für Elektro- und Hybridstraßenfahrzeuge, Post Doctoral Thesis
IDC 82.92 83.85
(Habilitation), OVE Publication, 2008.
NEDC 64.04 64.78
A 2.36 2.25
IDC 82.92 83.17
NEDC 64.04 64.74
i 8.59 10.5
IDC 82.92 87.53

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, step-by-step analytical calculation of Electric
Vehicle (EV) was presented. Based on the analytical
calculation, EV was modeled in MATLAB®/Simulink®
environment with recuperation capability. The simulation
results are summarized in the form of various tables for reader.
These summary tables can be utilized to improve the range of
EV. This paper was started with the explanation of vehicle
terminology and its analytical calculation. Based on the
analytical calculation, step-by-step approach was shown to
develop various simulation model blocks such as aerodynamic
model, gear box, motor-inverter model and battery model. In
section IV, the simulation results in terms of EV range and
Battery State of Charge (SOC) were presented for New
European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and Indian Driving Cycle
(IDC) inputs. After that, simulation results were summarized
for various inputs and input parameters. This paper was aimed
to be a ready reference for basic calculations and simulation of
EV design. The results of analytical calculation and simulation
are in close proximity with the manufacturer provided data for
vehicle.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Mahindra Reva Electric
Vehicles Private Limited for providing details about ASM,
battery pack, battery curves, gear ratio and ideal range value
for EV calculation.

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