Abstract:

The Electric Vehicle (EV) is one of the significant technological advancements in the modern transport sector. It finds growing global importance because of its pollution-free and low-cost operation. A thorough investigation of the reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) of the vehicle system can help manufacturers to identify the failure-prone zones in the design and to estimate their contributions to the overall system failure. However, RAM related concerns still have restricted large-scale commercial utilization of these vehicles. This paper presents an approach to carry out a quantitative RAM analysis of a plug-in electric vehicle. A mathematical model is developed in the Markov Framework incorporating the reliability characteristics of all significant electrical components of the vehicle system, namely battery, motor, drive, controllers, charging unit, and energy management unit. The study shows that the vehicle’s survivability can be increased by improving its components’ restoration rates. The paper also investigates the role of a charging station on the availability of the vehicle. The paper also looks at the impact of a charging station on vehicle availability. It shows how the reliability of the grid power supply affects the operational effectiveness of a plug-in electric vehicle. The ideas outlined in this article can be used to help further research into the design and maintenance of a plug-in electric vehicle.