Energy efficiency analysis and comparison of transmission technologies for an electric vehicle

Electric vehicles are seen as the most promising solution to convert sustainable energy into drive energy. However, there are still some major (technological) challenges, e.g., in terms of maximizing range anxiety, minimizing battery costs and charging time. A possible solution, in order to improve the relative limited range (100–200 km), battery life time and ultimate costs, is utilization, e.g., of a transmission technology between the electric machine and driven wheels. The main research question of this paper is, what are the effects of transmission types (fixed, manual, continuously variable) and parameters (final drive ratio, efficiency) on the overall (battery-to-wheel) efficiency and performance of an electric vehicle?