The influence of the regenerative braking on the overall energy consumption of a converted electric vehicle

Abstract

Electrical energy consumption of a converted electric vehicle in the real-world environment has been examined. The objective of such test is to compare the overall energy consumption of a vehicle with and without regenerative braking features. For each test, sets of data such as the total testing time, the batteries charge and/or discharge power, and the vehicle mileage were collected and analyzed to determine the energy consumption. The reliability of the data was tested using confidence intervals, which could be used as an indication of the level of confidence that the average value taken could represent the average population. The average value of energy consumption in the vehicles with and without regenerative braking is 145.26 Wh/km and 154.79 Wh/km, respectively. The difference between the average energy consumption from those two conditions, which is 9.53 Wh/km, has 95% probability to be accurate, as indicated by the confidence intervals test. This shows a decrease in electrical energy consumption by about 6.16%, which indicates an enhancement in mileage or vehicles efficiency.