A method for determining an air gap between a transport rotor and a stator segment, wherein an acceleration run of the transport rotor is performed and, here, the present stator current is measured and actual speed values are determined, from which a change in speed per time unit is determined, and from which an acceleration is determined, where the present propulsion force is determined from the product of the force constant and the present stator current, where the present propulsion force and the acceleration are used to determine a virtual mass of the transport rotor, and where for a statement about the currently prevailing air gap a relationship between an increase in the virtual mass and an enlargement of the air gap is used and a size value for the air gap is calculated therefrom.

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, computer program products, and systems. Embodiments of the present invention can in response to receiving a request for a charge, dynamically determine an optimal charging station using a bipartite graph. Embodiments of the present invention can then navigate a user to the dynamically determined optimal charging station.

An electric vehicle includes first and second traveling motors, first and second rotational position sensors, and a measurement controller. The first rotational position sensor detects a rotation angle of the first traveling motor and has a first wheel-speed range in which a deviation of an original position of the first rotational position sensor is measurable. The second rotational position sensor detects a rotation angle of the second traveling motor and has a second wheel-speed range in which a deviation of an original position of the second rotational position sensor is measurable. The second wheel-speed range differs from the first wheel-speed range. The measurement controller executes, in an execution order, measurements of the deviations of the original positions of the first and second rotational position sensors while the electric vehicle is traveling, and switch the execution order on the basis of acceleration or deceleration data of the electric vehicle.

An embodiment system for controlling power consumption of a high voltage battery includes a driver's requested torque determiner configured to determine a driver's intention to accelerate a vehicle and to calculate a driver's requested torque, an available power amount calculator configured to calculate an available power amount of a difference between an existing power consumption amount of electronic components configured to use the high voltage battery as a power source and a minimum power consumption amount of the electronic components required by a vehicle system, and a driving controller configured to variably control power applied to the electronic components and power applied to a drive motor of the vehicle upon determining the driver's intention to accelerate the vehicle.

A vehicle control apparatus includes a determination processor and a regeneration controller. During traveling in a first travel mode, the determination processor determines a timing at which a regenerative braking force based on a motor regenerative force is to be increased under the condition that an accelerator-off operation period is equal to or less than a predetermined period. During traveling in a second travel mode, the determination processor refrains from determining the timing at which the regenerative braking force is to be increased under the sole condition that the accelerator-off operation period is equal to or less than the predetermined period. The regeneration controller performs control that increases the motor regenerative force as the determination processor determines the timing at which the regenerative braking force is to be increased.

To provide a vehicle drive device capable of efficiently driving a vehicle by using a motor without falling into the vicious cycle between enhancement of driving via the motor and an increase in vehicle weight. The present invention is a vehicle drive device (10) having a motor for driving the wheels of a vehicle and includes a front wheel motor (20) for driving front wheels (2b) of a vehicle (1) and a battery (18) and a capacitor (22) that supply electric power for driving the front wheel motor (20), in which the voltage of the battery (18) and the capacitor (22) connected in series is applied to the front wheel motor (20) and the capacitor (22) is disposed between the left and right front wheels (2b) of the vehicle (1).

An electric walking assisting vehicle configured such that in accordance with operating amounts acting on an operation part, driving of driving motors is controlled and includes an inclination detector which detects inclination of a vehicle body in a forward-backward direction, and on flat land where inclination is less than a threshold, with an operation origin of the operation part as a center, the driving motors are controlled to generate torque in a forward direction by operation of pushing the operation part forward and to generate torque in a backward direction by operation of pulling the operation part backward, on an uphill road on which the inclination is the threshold value or more, the operation origin is shifted to an pulling operation side, and on a downhill road on which the inclination is the threshold value or more, the operation origin is shifted to a pushing operation side.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting driver demand wheel torque of a vehicle. The driver demand wheel torque may be adjusted as a function of accelerator pedal position. In particular, at low accelerator pedal positions, a lead-in region of an accelerator pedal position to driver demand wheel torque relationship is adjustable responsive to vehicle operation conditions so that “dead pedal” feel may be avoided.

A rotatable LIDAR device including contactless electrical couplings is disclosed. An example rotatable LIDAR device includes a vehicle electrical coupling including (i) a first conductive ring, (ii) a second conductive ring, and (iii) a first coil. The example rotatable LIDAR device further includes a LIDAR electrical coupling including (i) a third conductive ring, (ii) a fourth conductive ring, and (iii) a second coil. The example rotatable LIDAR device still further includes a rotatable LIDAR electrically coupled to the LIDAR electrical coupling. The first conductive ring and the third conductive ring form a first capacitor configured to transmit communications to the rotatable LIDAR, the second conductive ring and the fourth conductive ring form a second capacitor configured to transmit communications from the rotatable LIDAR, and the first coil and the second coil form a transformer configured to provide power to the rotatable LIDAR.

A method for operating a motor vehicle, which includes a drive system, including an electric drive machine, a friction braking system and an actuating element. The actuating element is continuously movable between a first end state and a second end state, a position of the actuating element in the first end state corresponding to a percentage value of 0%, and the position of the actuating element in the second end state corresponding to a percentage value of 100%. An acceleration torque for the motor vehicle is predefined if the positon has a percentage value that is greater than a predefined threshold value, and a deceleration torque for the motor vehicle being predefined if the position has a percentage value that is less than the threshold value. The friction braking system is activated in such a way that the friction braking system generates at least partially the predefined deceleration torque.