Upgrading conventional cars to solar hybrid vehicles

Upgrading conventional vehicles to hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) can represent a viable and feasible way to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, particularly in urban areas. Hybridisation to a through the road (TTR) parallel hybrid structure is obtained by integration of wheel motors in rear wheels, the addition of an additional battery, of photovoltaic panels and a vehicle management unit using data from OBD port. In the paper, the main aspects related to the vehicle hybridisation concerning the impact of different system architectures on optimal energy management, real-time measurement of active gear and neutral gear, and effects of control system structure on vehicle-driver interaction are presented and discussed.