Performance assessment of solar-powered electric vehicles integrated with a novel DC converter

A solar-powered electric vehicle (SPEV) utilises photovoltaic modules (PVMs) on its roof baffle to convert solar energy into electricity, effectively increasing the driving distance of electric vehicles (EVs). However, commercial PVMs have low energy conversion efficiency, resulting in insufficient drive power for SPEVs. A flat-roof vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV) supplies power to low-voltage loads, while a high-voltage battery bank charges the electric drive-reconstructed on-board charger (OBC) to address this problem. Therefore, this paper presents a novel multiport converter that can be integrated into the SPEV and connects to low-voltage (LV) loads via a nonisolated DC‒DC converter operating in six modes. In addition, a multiport converter was presented and controlled by strategies that integrated proportional–integral (PI) control with maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The results indicate that the maximum efficiencies of the PVM supplying power solely to the load and to the battery are 98.92% and 95.88%, respectively. The maximum efficiency of the battery supplying power to the load is 98.86%, whereas the maximum efficiency of the PVM and battery combination to supply power to the load is 95.06%. The vehicle-specific power (VSP) indicates that when the speeds of cars, vans, and buses equipped with PVMs are less than 90 km/h, 95 km/h, and 115 km/h, respectively, PVMs with greater installed capacities yield greater gains for SPEVs. Conversely, when the speeds of cars, vans, and buses exceed these threshold values, smaller PVM capacities enhance VSP. Finally, the simulations show that PVMs integrated with buses, cars, and vans can reduce electricity costs by 13.04% to 32.93% and increase the driving range by 15% to 26.34%.