Disclosed herein are systems and methods for overvoltage protection. A system, such as a vehicle, for overvoltage protection of a supercapacitor system for an electric vehicle, the system includes a plurality of supercapacitor groups, each supercapacitor group comprising two or more of the plurality of supercapacitors. The system includes a plurality of overvoltage protector units, each the plurality of overvoltage protector units operable to detect the voltage of each of the two or more supercapacitors within the respective one of the supercapacitor groups. The system includes a controller comprising a processor with access to a memory, wherein the control system is operable to determine which of the plurality of supercapacitor groups to connect to the electric vehicle based on data sent from the respective overvoltage protector units.

A system for powering an electric vehicle includes at least one electrochemical battery, a supercapacitor adder module including at least one supercapacitor battery, and a controller configured, in response to detecting that an external charging source is connected to the supercapacitor adder module, to disconnect the at least one electrochemical battery from the electric vehicle, charge the at least one supercapacitor battery from the external charging source via the supercapacitor adder module, charge the at least one electrochemical battery from the external charging source via the supercapacitor adder module, and reconnect the at least one electrochemical battery to the electric vehicle.

An automated system and method are provided for adjusting an electrical configuration of a plurality of components of an electrical network associated with a vehicle in order to tune electrical characteristics of the electrical network to continuously match a dynamically changing desired mode of operation of the electrical network associated with the vehicle.

Pulsed control of electric motors, and more particularly, to selectively adjusting one or more of a pulsing frequency, an amplitude of the pulses and/or a duty cycle of the pulses for reducing Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) while maintaining high levels of operating efficiency.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for energy management. A system, such as a vehicle, includes a plurality of energy storage units that include a supercapacitor and an electrochemical battery. The system includes an energy controller that identifies a safety threshold associated with at least a subset of the energy storage units. The energy controller tracks historical power draw from the plurality of energy storage units over time in power tracking data, and identifies a power draw based on the power tracking data. The energy controller switches between a first configuration and a second configuration based on the identified power draw crossing the safety threshold. The first configuration is configured for drawing power from the electrochemical battery and disconnecting from the supercapacitor, while wherein the second configuration is configured for drawing power from the supercapacitor and disconnecting from the electrochemical battery.

A method for powering an electric vehicle including an electrochemical battery and one or more supercapacitor batteries includes determining self-discharge rate data for the one or more supercapacitor batteries and, in response to the self-discharge rate data satisfying at least one threshold condition, notifying a user to charge the one or more supercapacitor batteries, otherwise performing operations including: measuring current within a first path connecting the electrochemical battery to the electric vehicle; storing data representing the measured current in a database; determining a current use pattern from stored current data in the database; and in response to the current use pattern satisfying a first switching condition, switching in the one or more supercapacitor batteries in place of the electrochemical battery.

Systems and methods are provided for electrochemical battery testing in supercapacitor-toelectrochemical hybrid systems, which may be provided in an electric vehicle. Such systems may include at least one electrochemical battery and an supercapacitor adder module and connections, and electrochemical battery testing module. In conjunction with a supercapacitor adder module, the electrochemical battery testing module applies a variety of tests and measures various parameters of one or more electrochemical batteries connected to an electric vehicle.

A vehicle includes a main drive unit, a sub drive unit, and a control unit. The main drive unit includes a main drive rotary electric machine. The sub drive unit includes a sub drive rotary electric machine. The control unit includes a driving force distribution ratio setting unit configured to set a driving force distribution ratio between the main driving force and the sub driving force and is configured to control the outputs of the main drive unit and the sub drive unit so that the main driving force and the sub driving force have the driving force distribution ratio set by the driving force distribution ratio setting unit. The driving force distribution ratio setting unit is configured to set the driving force distribution ratio to minimize electric power loss of the vehicle based on a vehicle speed of the vehicle and a required driving force of the vehicle.

A towing device operably provided on a trailer for powering and controlling the trailer. The towing device has an actuator operably connected with the trailer during a towing operation. The towing device also has at least one switch provided in the actuator and operable to variably control at least one motor/generator provided on the trailer. The at least one switch is also operable to send a first signal to the at least one motor/generator via a first force exerted on the actuator by a vehicle, and wherein a first torque is applied to at least one wheel on the trailer via the at least one motor/generator being operably engaged with the at least one wheel. In addition, the towing device may include a controller operably connected to the at least one switch and to the at least one motor/generator, to control the torque applied by the at least one motor/generator.

A control system implementing a hybrid energy storage system (ESS) optimization strategy is disclosed. The hybrid ESS optimization strategy may be implemented in a machine that comprises a power system that includes a plurality of power sources and a power controller that includes one or more processors. The power controller may receive information related to a set of brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) maps associated with the plurality of power sources, determine a performance indicator using a cost function associated with the plurality of power sources, and generate a command to operate the power system based on a power distribution that minimizes an energy cost to operate the power system based on the information related to the set of BSFC maps, the performance indicator, and a load associated with the power system.