Vehicles may be composed of a relatively few number of modules that are assembled together during a final assembly process. An example vehicle may include a body module, a first drive module coupled to a first end of the body module, and a second drive module coupled to a second end of the body module. One or both of the drive modules may include a pair of wheels, a battery, an electric drive motor, and/or a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. One or both of the drive modules may also include a crash structure to absorb impacts. If a component of a drive module fails or is damaged, the drive module can be quickly and easily replaced with a new drive module, minimizing vehicle down time.

Presented are traction battery pack balancing systems, methods for making/operating such systems, and multi-pack, electric-drive motor vehicles with battery pack balancing capabilities. A method for controlling operation of a motor vehicle includes a vehicle controller: receiving a key-off command signal to power off the motor vehicle; determining if a difference between corresponding electrical characteristics of first and second traction battery packs is greater than a calibrated characteristic differential threshold; determining if a difference between corresponding battery pack capacities of the first and second traction battery packs is greater than a calibrated capacity differential threshold; and, responsive to the characteristic difference not being greater than the calibrated characteristic differential threshold and the capacity difference being greater than the calibrated capacity differential threshold, transmitting a key-on command signal to power on the motor vehicle, and a pack balancing command signal to reduce the capacity difference to below the calibrated capacity differential threshold.

A charging control method for a battery of a vehicle charges a high-voltage battery even when a current sensor fails in the eco-friendly vehicle. The method includes performing a fault diagnosis of a current sensor before starting to charge the battery in the vehicle and determining whether the current sensor has failed from the fault diagnosis result. Constant current (CC) charging control of charging the battery is then performed with a constant current in response to determining that the current sensor has failed.

A battery control device capable of obtaining an allowable charge/discharge current value can further accurately reflect a polarization state of a battery. A battery controller includes a first allowable current value calculation unit, a battery equivalent circuit model, and a correction amount calculation unit. Assuming a non-polarization state, a current limit value of the battery based on an open circuit voltage and upper and lower limit voltages set in the battery, the first allowable current value calculation unit calculates a first allowable current value Imax1. The battery equivalent circuit model estimates a polarization state of the battery when the current limit value is being calculated. The correction unit calculates an allowable current value correction value based on the estimated polarization state for correcting Imax1. A second allowable current value Imax2 which is the corrected first allowable current value is output as an allowable charge/discharge current value of the battery.

Vehicles may be composed of a relatively few number of modules that are assembled together during a final assembly process. An example vehicle may include a body module, a first drive module coupled to a first end of the body module, and a second drive module coupled to a second end of the body module. One or both of the drive modules may include a pair of wheels, a battery, an electric drive motor, and/or a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. One or both of the drive modules may also include a crash structure to absorb impacts. If a component of a drive module fails or is damaged, the drive module can be quickly and easily replaced with a new drive module, minimizing vehicle down time.

Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for electric vehicle collision avoidance. The apparatus for electric vehicle collision avoidance may include: a camera unit configured to acquire an image of the surrounding of an electric vehicle; a monitoring unit configured to control the camera unit such that the image is acquired as a preset number of image frames, monitor changes in consecutive image frames to recognize an object present in the image, estimate a distance between the electric vehicle and the object based on the position of the recognized object in the image, and generate a power cutoff command signal if the estimated distance is smaller than or equal to a preset distance; and a power management unit configured to cut off the power of a battery pack of the electric vehicle in response to the power cutoff command signal.

Disclosed is a method for control a vehicle with a drive system comprising an output shaft of a combustion engine and a planetary gear with a first and a second electrical machine, connected via their rotors to the components of the planetary gear, the vehicle is started by controlling the first electrical machine to achieve a torque thereof, so that the requested torque is transmitted to the planetary gear's output shaft, and controlling the second electrical machine to achieve a torque, so that the desired power to electrical auxiliary aggregates and/or loads in the vehicle, and/or electric energy storage means, if present in the vehicle, for exchange of electric energy with the first and second electrical machine is achieved.

A vehicle includes an inverter, a first battery, a first power line, a second battery, a second power line, and a voltage converter. Ranges of use with respect to open circuit voltages of the first battery and the second battery do not overlap each other, and ranges of use with respect to closed circuit voltages of the first and the second batteries overlap each other. When a regenerative power output from the inverter to the first power line is supplied to the second power line via the voltage converter, and the second battery is charged, an ECU calculates a maximum regenerative power with respect to the regenerative power output from the inverter to the first power line based on the open circuit voltage of the first battery and controls the inverter and the voltage converter such that the regenerative power does not exceed the maximum regenerative power.

A control apparatus for a vehicle includes a control portion configured to control an input torque to an automatic transmission such that a value representing a rotating state of an input rotary member of the automatic transmission coincides with a target value; a racing determining portion configured to determine whether a rotating speed of an engine is predicted to exceed a predetermined rotating speed when control is provided such that the value representing the rotating state of the input rotary member of the automatic transmission coincides with the target value during a power-on shift-down action of the automatic transmission; and an output limiting portion configured to limit the output torque of the engine to a predetermined torque or less if the rotating speed of the engine is predicted to exceed the predetermined rotating speed during the power-on shift-down action of the automatic transmission.

A system, computer readable media storing instructions, and a computing device-implemented method comprise receiving information representative of an environment forward of a travelling vehicle that includes an alternative fuel propulsion system, receiving information representative of a position of an accelerator pedal of the vehicle, and determining a battery regeneration profile to send to an electric motor of the alternative fuel propulsion system of the vehicle from the received information representative of a position of a pedal and the information.