A Smooth Traction Control Design for Two-Wheeled electric vehicles

Over the recent years many solutions to the problems of anti-locking and traction control have been widely investigated for four-wheeled vehicle equipped with both electric and internal combustion engines. Few works are relative to TCS (Traction Control System) for two-wheeled vehicle and most of them take advantage of well established nonlinear techniques. This paper proposes a traction controller for two-wheeled electric vehicle based on nonlinear model predictive approach. The controller objective is to prevent the traction wheel from spinning out when accelerating in order to maintain the driving performance as well as driving comfort. A proper evaluation of the interaction between the rider command and the controller action is made in order that the controller take over the rider’s input as soon as longitudinal slip condition is detected. In controlled state the optimal driving torque that guarantees optimal traction is computed based on a model predictive approach taking into account the nonlinearities of the system conveyed by the friction forces. The controller has been tested in simulation environment.