ADVISOR 2.1: a user-friendly advanced powertrain simulation using a combined backward/forward approach

TLDR

ADVISOR 2.1 is the latest version of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s advanced vehicle simulator, originally developed in 1994 to support the U.S. Department of Energy hybrid propulsion program and designed to be accurate, fast, flexible, easily shareable, and user‑friendly. The paper presents the ADVISOR 2.1 model, emphasizing its combined forward‑ and backward‑facing simulation approach and evaluating it against its design goals. The model integrates forward‑ and backward‑facing simulation approaches, and its library is enriched by user‑contributed component data.

Abstract

ADVISOR 2.1 is the latest version of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's advanced vehicle simulator. It was first developed in 1994 to support the US Department of Energy hybrid propulsion system program and is designed to be accurate, fast, flexible, easily sharable, and easy to use. This paper presents the model, focusing on its combination of forward- and backward-facing simulation approaches, and evaluates the model in terms of its design goals. ADVISOR predicts acceleration time to within 0.7% and energy use on the demanding US06 to within 0.6% for an underpowered series hybrid vehicle (0-100 km/h in 20 s). ADVISOR simulates vehicle performance on standard driving cycles between 2.6 and 8.0 times faster than a representative forward-facing vehicle model. Due in large part to ADVISOR's powerful graphical user interface and Web presence, over 800 users have downloaded ADVISOR from 45 different countries. Many of these users have contributed their own component data to the ADVISOR library.