A Hierarchical Energy Management Strategy for 4WD Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

In the field of new energy vehicles, 4WD PHEVs show strong energy-saving potential. A single energy management strategy, nevertheless, has difficulty achieving the energy-saving potential due to the complex, nonlinear energy system of the 4WD PHEV. To cope with it, a hierarchical energy management strategy (H-EMS) for 4WD PHEVs is proposed in this paper to achieve energy management optimization. Firstly, the future speed information is predicted by the speed prediction method, and the upper energy management strategy adopts the model predictive control (MPC) based on the future speed information to carry out the power source distribution between the engine and the battery. Secondly, the lower energy management strategy performs the power component distribution of the front motor and the rear motor based on an equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS). Finally, the simulation based on MATLAB/Simulink is performed, validating that the proposed method has more energy-saving capabilities, and the economy is improved by 11.87% compared with the rule-based (RB) energy management strategies.