Retaining Cornering Performance and Reducing Energy Consumption with Torque Vectoring and Suspensions Tuning

With the automotive industry's shift towards sustainability and energy efficiency, optimizing vehicle handling dynamics has become secondary. Additionally, there is a growing trend towards comfort-oriented design over handling performance. However, advancements such as integrating multiple independently controlled electric motors enable torque vectoring, offering a promising solution for reconciling these conflicting objectives. This paper proposes a novel approach to jointly improve vehicle handling and energy efficiency. Advanced simulation techniques are used to explore various suspension configurations to balance cornering performance and energy consumption. A torque vectoring controller is then designed in combination with meticulously tuned suspensions. This innovative approach, which considers active control design alongside suspension setup, achieves superior performance. Desired vehicle cornering capabilities are attained while ensuring significant efficiency in straight-line driving, which constitutes most road driving.