Fuel Efficiency Comparison Between a Conventional and a Hybrid Vehicle Using a Model Based on MATLAB/Simulink and ADAMS

Recent development of hybrid vehicles in the automotive industry has demonstrated the capability of reducing fuel consumption while maintaining vehicle performance. The purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid vehicle model created in MATLAB and ADAMS, and its fuel economy improvement over a conventional vehicle system. The hybrid vehicle model discussed in this paper utilizes the Honda IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) architecture. The powertrain components’ power output calculation and the control logic were modeled in MATLAB/Simulink, while the mechanical inertial components were modeled in ADAMS. Communication between MATLAB and ADAMS was established by ADAMS/Controls. The vehicle model created using MATLAB and ADAMS provides a more accurate, more realistic, and a highly flexible simulation platform. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the MATLAB/ADAMS hybrid vehicle model, simulation results were compared to the published data of ADVISOR. Fuel economy of hybrid and conventional vehicle models were compared using the EPA New York City Cycle (NYCC) and the Highway Fuel Economy Cycle (HWFET). The hybrid vehicle demonstrated 8.9% and 14.3% fuel economy improvement over the conventional vehicle model for the NYCC and HWFET drive cycles, respectively. The MATLAB/ADAMS vehicle model presented in this paper, demonstrated the fuel economy advantage of the hybrid vehicle over the conventional vehicle model, while offering a simulation platform that is modular, flexible, and can be conveniently modified to create different types of vehicle models.