Multi motor electric powertrains: Technological potential and implementation of a model based approach

Vehicle electrification is proliferating and evolving towards multi-motor vehicles. This implies new degrees of freedom and higher controllability. Meanwhile, embedded technology is presenting attractive new solutions. Furthermore, Model-Based Development gains relevance as the complexity of automotive applications continues to grow and regulations address functional safety. The implications of this context are described in this work and taken as motivation to implement a solution that involves the key technologies related to the discussed domains and their remarkable potential. This paper presents the implementation of a methodology and its workflow with a toolchain setup which has been used to develop and commission a System-on-Chip-based ECU for a Torque Vectoring algorithm in a Motor-in-Wheel demonstrator vehicle. The implemented solution permits to rapidly and safely move from algorithm development and laboratory simulations to real circuit testing, agilely iterating control enhancements, tests and validation, for an efficient and effective deployment. Furthermore, both the applied methodology and the selected toolchain are suited for future certification considerations.