2020 International Conference for Emerging Technology (INCET)
Belgaum, India. Jun 5-7, 2020
Evaluation of Regenerative Braking and its
Functionality in Electric Vehicles
Mayank Gupta, Student Member, IEEE.
Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India.
School of Computing and Electrical Engineering.
mayankstumember@ieee.org.
Abstract—Regenerative braking is an efficient method of
reusing the kinetic energy of decelerating e-vehicle by restoring
the energy into the battery. The recovered energy can be used
to supply power to the grid or it can be stored for the future. It
reduces the wastage of energy and also helps to increase the
traveling distance. BLDC and PMSM motor are used for e-
vehicles due to its very good torque-speed characteristics. The
mathematical modeling of the BLDC motor is done in this
work. The study of vehicle dynamics for the regenerative
braking system is done. This electronic commutation process is
the same for both motoring and regenerative modes based on
Hall sensor output. Our main aim is to have a compatible
approach towards the utilization of electric vehicles for
mountainous terrain and its comparison with the performance
of e-vehicle on the plane region. A comparison between the two
terrains will be done based on the inclination between the
ground level and slope on which e-vehicle is running.
Keywords—Electric vehicle, Brushless dc (BLDC) machines,
Regenerative Braking, Battery, and hall sensor.
I. INTRODUCTION
Transportation sector plays a very significant role in
human life. From the last few decades, combustion engines
are the dominant power source for transportation vehicles.
Regenerative braking is a major technology for enhancing
the fuel efficiency of the electric vehicle (EV) equipped with
energy storage units , such as a battery and an ultracapacitor
Internal combustion engine (ICE) driven vehicles which
have several drawbacks. One major drawback is increasing
prices of crude oil and petroleum which affects the economy
because of this air quality is continuously deteriorating and
also causes greenhouse effect. Further, mechanical braking in
internal combustion engines will dissipate kinetic energy as
heat energy which will lead to the wastage of energy. Also,
due to the detonation of fuel internal combustion noise is
generated. To get rid of all these issues ,an alternative of
fossil fuel vehicle is needed .The new technology of electric
vehicle provides several advantages over existing ICE based
electric vehicles.
Nowadays, mostly all automobile companies are moving
towards electric technology. The government also started
adopting and promoting e-vehicle technology. Thus, due to
better efficiency of electric vehicle technology it is preferred
over ICE technology. In a conventional internal combustion
engine vehicle, kinetic energy was not recaptured because of
which efficiency of vehicle is less. In order to make an
electric vehicle more efficient the kinetic energy wasted
while braking should be restored. Regenerative braking is a
technique for restoring the kinetic energy. There are many
different controlling techniques used in regenerative braking.
Based on the type of controller used its efficiency of
retrieving energy will increase or decrease. In this work PI
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controller is being used. PI controller is a basic controller
which is easy to implement.
In the case of high load on the vehicle, it is required that
vehicle should not slow down drastically. There is a need to
maintain sufficient vehicle speed even if load torque is high.
In this work BLDC motor is used because of its good torque
speed characteristics. For BLDC motor the PI controller is
desirable because motor output torque contains ripples which
can be compensated by the PI controller [1].
Whenever the energy has to be transferred from load to
the supply, the PMBDCM is to be operated as a generator,
i.e., by generating a negative torque in the machine as against
the positive torque for the motoring operation [6].
For regenerative braking electronic controller plays a
major role. Electronic controller is used to decide vehicle’s
mode of operation. The vehicle can be operated in two
modes: Regenerative mode and Motoring mode. An
electronic controller is associated with regenerative braking
system and energy management system. Regenerative
braking system must have two main objectives .Firstly , after
the application of brakes vehicle must come to rest within
the minimum possible distance . Secondly, force must be
divided uniformly on all wheels to keep control over the
vehicle’s direction. Energy management system should also
be competent enough to inform the controller about the status
of battery. Thus, in this work detailed investigation is done to
study the complete system of regenerative braking for
electric vehicle.
This paper investigates different factors affecting EV
regenerative braking performance at low speeds and
examines the variation under different loading conditions and
inclination [3].
However, forces in braking needed by the driver cannot
be guaranteed by regenerative braking alone, because of
various limitations, such as battery state of charge, and
vehicle speed.
The idea of using regenerative braking for electric
vehicle is been there since a very long time. There are
several challenges while doing regenerative braking. Some
of them are as follows. Regenerative braking restrains the
physical competence of different parts of braking
system[2].At a very high deceleration rate or high speed it is
practically not possible to restore all the braking energy
because restoring the energy takes some amount of time and
very fast controlling is required to restore the energy [2].
Variable control-The energy restored by regenerative
braking is highly dependent on wind, temperature variation ,
etc [2].Variations in torque produced by motor also cause
issue for regenerative braking as ripples in torque leads to
1
 ripple in motor current which is harmful for battery while
doing regenerative [2].
Mechanical braking is also required at the time of failure
of regenerative braking [2]. According to the literature,
regenerative braking efficiency can be around 25% [4]. Fig
1shows the schematic layout of EVs and HEVs [7].
B. Regenerative Braking Efficiency
For conventional vehicle, the energy efficiency is only
about 20% and the rest 80% energy is being dissipated as
heat through friction. In regenerative braking, capacitor is
used between inverter and battery , to store the kinetic energy
which can be used later for battery charging.

II. MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND CONTROLLING OF

BLDC MOTOR DRIVE
BLDC motor is a special type of permanent magnet
synchronous machine (PMSM) in which concentric winding
is placed at stator and permanent magnet at rotor. Due to the
absence of brushes, this motor pulls out the sparking from
bottom and also require less maintenance. Electronic
commutation is used instead of brush commutation in BLDC
Fig. 1. Schematic Layout of EVs & HEVs. motor. Based on the position of rotor or output of hall sensor,
commutation is done by appropriate switching of VSI.
There are many advantages of regenerative braking
.Some of them are as follows ,it allows battery to be used for The following mathematical equation can be used to
longer periods of times without the need of external charging model BLDC motor. Below we have written voltage
,it also results in increasing the life of friction braking equations where we neglected the mutual inductance terms
system, it reduces the pollution caused by electricity as it is very small.
generation. ௗூೌ
ܸ௔ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௔ ܴ ൅ ‫ܮ‬ ൅ ‫ܧ‬௔ (1)
ௗ௧
Irrespective of several advantages, there are few ௗூ್
drawbacks of regenerative braking as well some of which are ܸ௕ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௕ ܴ ൅ ‫ܮ‬ ൅ ‫ܧ‬௕ (2)
ௗ௧
ௗூ೎
complex electronic circuitry is needed to decide when the ܸ௖ ൌ ‫ܫ‬௖ ܴ ൅ ‫ ܮ‬൅ ‫ܧ‬௖ (3)
ௗ௧
motor should reverse, sophisticated brake control system, it
Ea = Ke*f(θ) (4)
only works for wheels connected to motors. ଶς
Eb = Ke*f(θ - ) (5)
The study is done to investigate different vehicle ଷ
ଶς
parameters like power rating and torque. These parameters Ec = Ke*f(θ + ) (6)
ଷ
depends on the forces acting on the vehicle. Therefore Torque Equation:
detailed analysis of all the forces acting on vehicle is being ܶ௘ ൌ ʹ ‫ܭ כ‬௧ሺ௠௢௧௢௥ሻ ‫ܫ כ‬ (7)
done. These forces will vary according to the parameters like ா ூ ାா ூ ାா ூ
weight of the vehicle, radius of the wheel, inclination of ܶ௘ ൌ ೌ ೌ ್ ್ ೎ ೎ (8)
ఠ
plane, etc. The motor is designed based on the demand of the
vehicle which is given by power rating and torque. The Where, Kt(motor) = motor constant, Ke = emf constant, Te =
comparison is done between the hilly regions and plain electromagnetic torque, Ea, Eb, and Ec = respective back emf
regions. Regenerative braking is more efficient in hilly of phase a, b and c, Ia, Ib and Ic = respective phase currents in
regions due to its slope. phase a, b and c.

A. Brake Controller Mode of Operation

The brake controller calculates the amount of torque – When the vehicle accelerates, the machine will work as a
rotational force available to produce the electricity used to motor. In the case of motoring mode, battery gives the
feedback into the batteries. It also control the speed and supply to the motor. But at the time of braking, power will
decides how much energy is fed back to. It also decides flow from motor to battery.
whether motor is able to handle force required to stop the
Corresponding to the output of hall sensor there are two
vehicle otherwise it gives responsibility to friction brakes,
type of mode.
thus the brake controller is very crucial for regenerative
braking. Fig. 2 below depicts the driving parameters for A) Motoring mode
brake controller. B) Generating mode
A. Motoring mode
BRAKE
CONTROLLER
The power flows from battery to motor in case of
motoring mode. Fig 3 shows a case when S 1 and S 6 are ON
then it allows power to flow between battery and motor. Due
to this power flow path, phase A and phase B windings will
get energized and motor will start to work. When S 1 is in
non-conducting state, the inductor starts to discharge. At the
BRAKE DRIVER STATE OF same time, diode D4 associated with switch S 4 will be
SPEED INPUT CHARGE conducting and form a closed path. For remaining switches
process will be same according to the output of Hall sensor
Fig. 2. Driving parameters for brake controller.
[5].

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 The sequence of reference currents generation for one
cycle is shown in Table I. These reference currents are
compared with actual phase currents of the motor. The
difference between reference and actual value of currents
results an error. This error is given to PWM current controller
which provide the required switching signals to the VSI
which feeds the BLDC motor.

TABLE I. REFERENCE CURRENTS

Θ (theta) ‫כ‬ ‫כ‬ ‫כ‬
Ia Ib Ic
Fig. 3. Motoring mode of BLDC motor.
0-60 Is -Is 0
B. Regenerative mode
Regenerative braking can be used when BLDC motor is 60-120 Is 0 -Is
working in deceleration mode. Fig. 4 shows same case when 120-180 0 Is -Is
S 1 and S 6 are ON according to the output of Hall sensor. In
180-240 -Is Is 0
case of regenerative braking current start to flow from switch
S 6 to diode D 4 associated with switch S 6. So, winding of 240-300 -Is 0 Is
phase A and phase B will be energized. When switch S 4 is in 300-360 0 -Is Is
non-conducting state, inductor starts to discharge through
switch S 6 to S 1 and that discharging energy is reused and
sent back to battery. The current direction can’t be change IV. INVESTIGATION OF REGENERATIVE BRAKING
instantly because inductor doesn’t allow sudden change of The dependency of forces, power, and torque on different
current [5]. parameters is investigated. The variation of forces according
to the speed and constants are shown in the following
sections. The study is done by considering different cases
where some of the parameters are constant and some are
varying. Some assumptions are considered like absence of
gear system in between the electric motor and mechanical
system. The vehicle parameters are shown in Table II.

TABLE II. VEHICLE PARAMETERS FOR INVESTIGATION

S.NO. Name of the parameter Value of the parameter

1 Radius of the vehicle 0.2 m
Fig. 4. Generating mode of BLDC motor.
2 Rolling resistance co-efficient 0.01
3 Drag co-efficient 0.26
III. CLOSED LOOP CONTROL OF BLDC MOTOR DRIVE 4 Frontal area 2.2 m2
In most of the BLDC motor applications, speed control is 5 Mass of the vehicle 400 kg
necessary. Conventionally, PI speed controller are used 6 Air density 1.25 Kg/m3
because of its easy implementation.Fig.5 shows the basic
7 Moment of inertia 0.309 kg.m2
building blocks of the BLDC motor drive system. The BLDC
motor is supplied by a Three phase voltage source inverter V. INVESTIGATION OF FORCES ACTING ON VEHICLE FOR
(VSI). For firing the power semiconductor switches in the
PLAIN AND MOUNTAIN AREA
inverter, the gating signals are generated by Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) current controller [8]. Aerodynamic force :- The aerodynamic force is a function
of speed, air density, drag, etc. The slope angle does not
The actual speed is fed back to the speed controller and
affect the aerodynamic force. While the speed of the vehicle
processed on to minimize the error in maintaining the
is changing, aerodynamic force changes proportional to the
reference speed. The output of speed controller is the torque
reference and given to the reference current generator. The square of speed. Fig.6 shows the affect of speed on
reference currents are initiated by a reference current aerodynamic force. Here only one case is discussed in Table
generator. III below.

TABLE III. AERODYNAMIC FORCE VS SPEED (KM/HR)

Speed (km/hr) Aerodynamic Force (Fad) in Newton
10 2.32
20 9.28
30 20.83
40 37.06
50 57.93
60 83.45
70 113.5
80 148.2
90 187.6
Fig. 5. Schematic layout of closed-loop of BLDC motor drive. 100 231.5

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 TABLE V. CLIMB FORCE VS THETA
θ (degree) Gravitational force (Frr N)
0 0
1 68.25
2 136.38
3 204.92
4 273
5 341.4
6 409.28
Fig. 6. Aerodynamic force vs. speed 7 477.44
8 543.2
Rolling Resistance force:- Rolling resistance is the 9 612.9
10 678.65
function of vehicle mass, gravity constant and rolling 11 748
resistance constant. For constant speed force remain almost
the same for different θ. This force creates a difference
between plain and mountain region. For hilly regions, it will VI. INVESTIGATION OF POWER AND TORQUE OF THE
change according to the inclined slope and load variation. VEHICLES FOR DIFFERENT CASES
Here, the load is constant for different value of angle θ shown Power and torque demand are depending on the load and
in Fig.7 and Table IV. speed. If the load is increasing torque and power demand will
also increase. In the plain area, the resultant value of the
TABLE IV. ROLLING RESISTANCE FORCE VS THETA
forces are low. For a fixed speed, power and torque demand
will be different for plain and mountain regions. Torque and
θ (degree) Rolling Resistance Force (Frr) N power with respect to θ at constant speed of 72 Km/hr.
0 39.2
3 39.14 Load torque vs angle θ :- According to the given Table
4 39.10 VI, it shows in the graph that load torque almost proportional
6 38.98 to angle θ is shown in Fig. 9.
7 38.90
9 38.71
11 38.48 TABLE VI. LOAD TORQUE AND POWER W.R.T THETA AT 72 KM/HR.
θ(degree) Load Torque Load Power
(TL) Nm (PL) KW
0 23.9 3.18
3 54.6 7.28
5 75.1 10
9 115.6 15
11 135 18

Load power vs angle θ :- According to the given Table

VI, it shows in the graph that load power is almost
proportional to angle θ shown in Fig.10
Fig. 7. Rolling resistance force vs theta.

Fig. 9. Load torque vs theta.

Fig. 8. Climb force vs theta.

Uphill and downhill force:- Component of gravitational

force which acts on the vehicle at inclined regions. It’s
component supports the motion at the downhill and opposes
at uphill. In the plain area, there is no significant component
of gravity which affects the resultant force. Dependency on
the parameter is shown in Fig. 8 and Table V.

Fig. 10. Load Power vs theta

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 Torque and Power with respect to θ at constant speed of Regeneration is being done at down slope as shown in the
25 km/hr. Table VII shows load torque and power values for below Fig. 12.
different values of θ. While speed is decreasing, load torque
and power also start to decrease. There are some parameters From Fig. 13 motor torque is changing according to the
shown in the below table for a case study. load torque. If any parameter affects the load torque that will
show in motor torque. Change in load torque for short
duration create a ripple in torque and current waveform.
TABLE VII. LOAD TORQUE AND POWER W.R.T THETA AT 25 KM/HR
From Fig. 14, multiplication of speed and torque give
θ (degree) Load Torque Load Power power. According to the load demand, power requires from
(TL) Nm (PL) KW
the motor will also change. Up to 25 sec motor power feed to
0 8 372.43
3 38.78 1794.2
the load but after this it starts to work as a generation and
5 58.1 2735.22 feed energy back to the battery through the inverter.
9 100 4622.7
11 120 5532
-3 -22.6 -1050

Load power vs angle θ :- From the below graph in Fig.11,

it shows that negative power means is regenerative braking.

Fig. 12. Load torque vs Ti

Fig. 11. Load Power vs theta.

As discussed in the above section, the forces acting on

vehicle are the functions of various parameters. In this section,
it is studied that how forces vary with these parameters. It is
observed that in hilly areas torque and power demand
Fig. 13. Motor torque vs Time corresponding to load torque.
increases because θ is more as compared to plain areas.
Regenerative braking is more efficient in hilly area as
compared to plain areas.
VII. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The three-phase, 4-poles, 3000 rpm BLDC motor has
been designed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The
speed of the motor is controlled by hysteresis current control
method. The parameters of three-phase BLDC motor drive is
shown in Table VIII.

TABLE VIII. PARAMETERS OF BLDC MOTOR DRIVE

Fig. 14. Motor Power vs Time corresponding to load torque.
Sr. Name of the parameter Value
No.
1 Stator per phase resistance 0.02 Ω As shown in Fig.15 the waveform of desired speed match
2 Stator inductance per phase 1.1 mH with the reference speed. After 25 sec. of the acceleration. As
3 Flux constant 0.085 V-s shown in Fig.16 for starting 25 sec. the battery gives the
4 Torque constant 0.68 N-m/A power to the motor for acceleration. but after that it starts
5 Voltage constant 71 Vpeak/rad/sec work as a generator, that is called regenerative mode. So
6 No. of pole 4 after 25 sec. battery start to charge (soc) and will increase as
7 Air density 1.25 kg/m3 shown in the simulation result. It shows in Fig.17 the special
8 Moment of Inertia 0.309 Kg-m2
9 Power rating 25 KW
case where time taken for 250 sec. For 100 sec. battery is
giving power to the motor in accelerating mode. After 100
sec. motor start to work as a generator and energy again
The load torque profile of BLDC motor drive is shown in starts to store in battery.
Fig. 12. From Fig. 12 mainly load torque require is
depending on the mass of passengers and require speed,
corresponding to different speeds at constant load value.

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Fig. 15. Vehicle speed vs Time corresponding to reference value.
Fig. 16. SOC of Battery.
Fig. 17. Energy consumed and recaptured capacity of battery.
By using the parameter of vehicle, study of regenerative
braking has been done. Time taken to change the vehicle
speed is 25 sec. After 25 sec. speed goes down and motor
start to feed energy back to the battery. Soc of the battery is
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showing, charging state of the battery. Negative power also
showing that regeneration start after 25 sec shown in Fig. 16.
VIII. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a mathematical model using a
permanent magnet motor and in our case we are using BLDC
motor and observe its nature for speed and load profile and
corresponding to which we have taken the result and
recorded. Apart from that we have studied the vehicle
dynamics of e-vehicle by considering data related with the
practical vehicle and corresponding to the data we have
plotted the graph and observed important parameters of e-
vehicle like power and torque variation w.r.t theta.
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