A Comparative Analysis of Energy Management Strategies for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

TLDR

This paper formalizes the energy‑management problem in hybrid electric vehicles and compares three established optimization methods. The authors describe DP, PMP, and ECMS within a unified formal framework, demonstrating their substantial equivalence. Simulations show that ECMS, while equivalent to DP and PMP, is the only real‑time implementable strategy, validating its optimality and enabling effective tuning.

Abstract

This paper presents a formalization of the energy management problem in hybrid electric vehicles and a comparison of three known methods for solving the resulting optimization problem. Dynamic programming (DP), Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP), and equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) are described and analyzed, showing formally their substantial equivalence. Simulation results are also provided to demonstrate the application of the strategies. The theoretical background for each strategy is described in detail using the same formal framework. Of the three strategies, ECMS is the only implementable in real time; the equivalence with PMP and DP justifies its use as an optimal strategy and allows to tune it more effectively.