Impact of the driver behaviour on the energy recuperation in an electric vehicle

In recent years, energy recuperation systems have been used more and more often. This is due to the rapid development of electric and hybrid cars. In view of the growing technology that allows for a recuperation system efficiency increase, it is important to consider whether the weakest link is in this case not the driver and his ability to customize the driving style to the needs of energy recovery. This article attempts to answer this question. For that purpose, the special road tests were conducted in a real urban traffic. Two drivers were involved, each of whom used alternating recovery and non-recovery driving style. In total twelve road tests, realisations have been completed. The results of the measurements were entered into a mathematical model that simulated the work of the energy recuperation system. It allowed estimating how different recovery systems can work in the conditions of conducted tests. On this basis, an analysis was made both in terms of the total amount of energy that can be recovered in the case of recuperative and non-recuperative driving, and analysis of the recuperation system working and the real impact of the driver's driving style on the energy stored in the car's battery. Basis on the conducted considerations authors noted that use of recuperative driving technique could increase the amount of stored braking energy on average by 60%. It was also seen a significant impact on the energy waveform in the battery.