Evaluation of a Three-Parameter Gearshift Strategy for a Two-Speed Transmission System in Electric Vehicles

Abstract

This paper proposes a three-parameter gearshift scheduling strategy that has been implemented on both large and small electric vehicles with two-speed transmission systems. The new strategy evaluates vehicle performance under varying driving conditions on flat and hilly roads by assessing the vehicle speed, acceleration, and road grade. A heuristic approach is used to develop two gearshift schedules for vehicle acceleration and road grade, and gradient descent and pattern search methods are applied to optimize the gear ratios and primary gearshift schedules. The results show that the proposed gearshift strategy saves 16.5% of energy on hilly roads compared to conventional approaches. Optimal gearshift schedules for acceleration provide more room for second gear operation, while optimized gearshift schedules for the road grade increase the buffer zone for larger vehicles and allow more space for the second gear operating area. The experimental results validate the proposed approach’s performance for both large and small electric vehicles.