Dynamic energy-efficient torque allocation algorithm for in-wheel motor-driven vehicle

In-wheel motor-driven vehicle improves the overall performance with its torque vectoring system, which distributes the torque command of each motor. This paper proposes a novel torque allocation algorithm to dynamically optimize energy consumption of the vehicle. It splits the optimization problem into two sub-problems and obtains the executive torque of each side. The method also simplifies the solution by modification and discretization of feasible torque space, thus ensuring that there must be solvable and reducing online computational load. Two representative simulation cases—New European Driving Cycle and Fault Tolerance—have been selected and conducted through Cruise–Simulink co-simulation platform. The simulation verifies that the method decreases three energy consumption indices by 18.5%, 13.9%, and 14.7%, respectively, than those of the average allocation and coordinates all motors effectively based on vehicle’s operating status, which proves its practicability and robustness.