Advancements in technology and the growing concern for environmentally efficient vehicles have led to the use of alternate fuel and power sources for vehicles. Electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles use energy storage systems (ESS) to provide power for various vehicle requirements. However, the vehicles must generate and recharge the ESS for continued usage.
Commonly hybrid electric vehicles rely on torque and ESS state of charge to determine whether or not the generator needs to be activated to recharge the ESS. If the ESS state of charge falls below a set schedule then the generator is activated. It is desirable to create optimal charging schedules to recharge the ESS while providing minimal interruption to the operation of the vehicle. For an electric vehicle there is no way to recharge the ESS while the vehicle is drawing power. As a result, it is critical to be able to allocate the available energy to critical systems in an electric vehicle to ensure that the vehicle can reach the destination or next charging opportunity.
Therefore, predicting the energy consumption required prior to and during the drive cycle in order to ensure energy availability and optimal charging schedules is desirable.