This report includes a systematic approach to defining and analyzing an electrified powertrain for use in a modern American muscle car. To provide a background and define the problem the current trends in vehicle electrification will be explored followed by a definition of the American muscle car and its technical requirements. To analyze a variety of powertrains across multiple tests, the model based design approach is used with a custom designed simulation tool. Once the simulation environment is understood multiple simulations and tests are performed on each electrified powertrain defined to gain insights into their behavior and characteristics. Through experimental data and first principals a modeling tool is developed for the specific purpose of powertrain architecture selection. The tool provides many insights, flexible powertrain topologies, and customizable testing procedures. To ensure that the results of the tool are accurate energy balance calculations are performed on each powertrain and a comparison to commercially available software is given. To ensure that the new powertrains are improvements on their respective conventional vehicle counterparts, baseline simulations are completed and compared alongside the electrified vehicle powertrains. A selection matrix is formed to quantitatively compare and selected an appropriate powertrain for an American muscle car and a feasibility study is completed to ensure the design goals are met. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / The American muscle car has made a recent comeback in popularity after many years. The modern muscle car combines classic styling with modern day technology creating a car that is fun to drive and commands attention on the road. With fuel economy and emission standards becoming more stringent, American muscle cars will need to rely on the most recent technology to maintain the performance that excites their owners. To meet these future demands vehicle electrification has proven to be a solution that can greatly increase fuel economy and has also been used in high performance applications. Analysis must be completed to understand each electrification approach and which one is best suited for the muscle car segment. A model based design approach can be used to analyze each powertrain and give insights into each topology. After completing simulations of a variety of powertrains, an appropriate electrified powertrain can be proposed for an American muscle car.

This research investigates the effects of an electric turbocharger in a hybrid electric powertrain. First generic vehicle models are created and run to understand the overall powertrain requirements of torque, power and energy of a performance consumer vehicle. Then a low fidelity baseline model of a conventional vehicle is created in Simulink to serve as a baseline measure. To analyze an electric turbocharger system a high-fidelity model in AMESIM of a 4 cylinder turbocharged engine was modified. This engine model was analyzed using virtual dynamometer tests and a simplified look-up table based controller was developed for the electric motor within the electric turbocharger. Next this engine model was inserted within three different types of hybrid powertrain architectures models in AMESIM. Each hybrid powertrain required a unique supervisory controller which was developed using Stateflow in Simulink. These controller algorithms were imported into AMESIM and the model was simulated over standard drive cycles. Since a very wide variation of electrification level exists within hybrid powertrains the supervisory controllers are calibrated for charge-sustaining simulations. This allows for impartial comparisons across the hybrid architectures. Lastly a track drive cycle was developed to understand electric turbocharger effects under high performance loading conditions / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Turbochargers on internal combustion engines can utilize a portion of waste exhaust energy to pump more air into the cylinder leading to greater power and efficiency. A modern high performance 4-cylinder turbocharged engine is capable of replacing a V6 engine of much higher cylinder displacement. However turbocharged engines suffer from ‘turbo lag’ when the engine cannot immediately produce power. An electric turbocharger can virtually eliminate this ‘turbo lag’ as well as generate electricity from excess energy the turbocharger does not use. Electric turbochargers have been development by researchers and various automotive manufacturers. However the potential effects of such a system within the framework of a hybrid electric powertrain in a consumer vehicle has not been quantified. The objective of this research is to use high fidelity models to investigate the effects of an electric turbocharger system within a hybrid powertrain.

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A modular simulation model of a marine powertrain consisting of a prime mover, propeller shaft, propulsor, and control system was developed, tested, and used to demonstrate the ability to analyze the marine powertrain numerically. The modularity of the model allows for the user to easily substitute different or more advanced modules, or add additional modules to obtain a greater level of detail or simulate more complex interactions of systems with the marine powertrain. Current and historical trends indicate an interest in all electric ship design, and the use of surface piercing propellers for small craft. Due to the availability of towing tank data from a surface piercing propeller, an all electric prime mover module, surface piercing propeller module, propeller shaft module, and PID control module were coded, integrated, and operated, simulating a complete powertrain. Simulations were conducted using full-scale real-world conditions to demonstrate the model functionality and level of detail. Simulation results provided insight into the vibrational excitation, stability, and control of such a powertrain. / Master of Science

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The use of alternative fuels and advanced powertrain technologies has been increasing over the past few years as vehicle emissions and fuel economy have become prominent in both manufacturer needs and consumer demands. With more hybrids emerging from all automotive manufacturers, the use of computer modeling has quickly taken a lead in the testing of these innovative powertrain designs. Although on-vehicle testing remains an important part of the design process, modeling and simulation is proven to be an invaluable tool that can be applied anywhere from preliminary powertrain design to controller software validation. The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) of Virginia Tech is applying for participation in the next Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition. EcoCAR 3 is a new four year competition sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors with the intention of promoting sustainable energy in the automotive sector. The goal of the competition is to guide students from universities in North America to create new and innovative technologies to reduce the environmental impact of modern day transportation. EcoCAR 3, like its predecessors, will give students hands-on experience in designing and implementing advanced technologies in a setting similar to that of current production vehicles. The primary goals of the competition are to improve upon a provided conventional, internal combustion engine production vehicle by designing and constructing a powertrain that accomplishes the following: • Reduce Energy Consumption • Reduce Well-to-Wheel (WTW) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions • Reduce Criteria Tailpipe Emissions • Maintain Consumer Acceptability in the area of Performance, Utility, and Safety • Meet Energy and Environmental Goals, while considering Cost and Innovation This paper presents a systematic approach in selecting a powertrain for HEVT to develop in the upcoming competition using model-based design. Using a base set of powertrain component models, several powertrain configurations are modeled and tested to show the progression from a basic conventional vehicle to several advanced hybrid vehicles. Each model is designed to generate energy consumption data, efficiency, emissions, as well as many other parameters that can be used to compare each of the powertrain configurations. A powertrain design is selected to meet the goals of the competition after exploring many powertrain configurations and energy sources. Three parallel powertrains are discussed to find a combination capable of meeting the target energy consumption and WTW GHG emissions while also meeting all of the performance goals. The first of these powertrains is sized to model a typical belted alternator starter (BAS) system and shows small improvements over a conventional vehicle. The next design is a parallel through the road hybrid that is sized to meet most power needs with an electric motor and a smaller IC engine. This case comes closer to the design goals, but still falls short on total energy consumption. Lastly, the battery and motor size are increased to allow a charge depleting mode, adding stored grid electricity to the energy sources. This electric energy only mode is able to displace a large amount of the fuel energy consumption based on the SAE J1711 method for determining utility factor weighted energy consumption of a plug-in hybrid vehicle. The final design is a Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle using E85 fuel and a 7 kWh battery to provide an all-electric charge depleting range of 34 km (21 mi). / Master of Science

The full text will be available at the the end of the embargo period: 29th Jul 2026