Charge Equalization System for an Electric Vehicle with a Solar Panel

Electric vehicles are environmentally friendly and more efficient than conventional combustion vehicles. However, from the point of view of energy vectors, they may use energy produced by less efficient and more polluting means. In this paper, an applicative methodology is used to develop a charging equalizer for an electric vehicle that makes it possible to efficiently use the energy produced by a 350 W photovoltaic panel to intelligently charge the five batteries of the vehicle. In addition, using a quantitative methodology, an analysis of the different physical and electrical parameters obtained by a series of sensors installed in the vehicle is presented, and the efficiency of the system is determined. Different routes were travelled within the city of Cuenca with and without the load equalization system, which made it possible to determine an increase in vehicle efficiency of up to 27.9%, equivalent to an additional travel distance of approximately 14.35 km. This is a promising result, since with small investments in solar panels and electronic materials, the performance of low-cost electric vehicles can be significantly improved.