Analyzing the performance index for a hybrid electric vehicle

The definition of a performance index for the optimization design and optimal control problem of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle is not often considered and analyzed explicitly. In literature, there is no study about proposing a method of building or evaluating whether a performance index is appropriate. In this paper a method of objectively analyzing the performance index for the optimal control problem of a parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle is introduced. The correlations and interdependencies among the objectives of the performance index are addressed by using the Singular Value Decomposition method. It is found that a simplified performance index consisting of fuel consumption and comfort can be obtained without sacrificing the vehicle performance compared to the case with the original one including fuel consumption, comfort and driveability.