Vehicle Optimal Control Design to Meet the 1.5 °C Target: A Control Design Framework for Vehicle Subsystems

Abstract

Current studies have achieved energy savings of vehicle subsystems through various control strategies, but these control strategies lack a benchmark to measure whether these energy savings are sufficient. This work proposes a control design framework that uses the 1.5 °C target in the Paris Agreement as a benchmark to measure the adequacy of energy savings of vehicle subsystems. This control design framework involves two points. One is the conversion of the 1.5 °C target into a constraint on the energy consumption of a vehicle subsystem. The other is the optimal control design of the vehicle subsystem under this constraint. To describe the specific application of this control design framework, we conduct a case study concerning the control design of active suspension in a battery electric light-duty vehicle. By comparison with a widely used linear quadratic regulator (LQR) method, we find that this control design framework can both ensure the performance comparable to the LQR method and help to meet the 1.5 °C target in the Paris Climate Agreement. In addition, a sensitivity analysis shows that the control effect is hardly changed by battery electric vehicle market share and electricity CO2 intensity. This work might provide insight on ways that the automotive industry could contribute to the Paris Agreement.