EV2 IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy 2012
3-5 July 2012, Bali, Indonesia
Electric Motor Control and Battery Management
System of Cikal Cakrawala ITB Electric Vehicle
Ignatius Ronny Yahya, Agus Purwadi
Power Engineering Division
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics ITB
Indonesia
ignatius_ronny@yahoo.com, apurwadi57@gmail.com
Abstract This paper focused on a research in typical BLDC
controller which is used to drive BLDC motor usually used in
electric car and characteristic of Battery Management System
planted in Battery. Control of induction motor and PMBLDC
(Permanent Magnet Brush less Direct Current) known as BLDC
(Brush less Dirrect Current), were discussed. Not only that,
Battery Management System for Lithium-Ion Battery was
identified. Testing was done on BLDC motor 800 W and LiFePo4
Battery 48 V nominal. This research was done by connected the
controller to battery (LiFePo4) and BLDC motor with variable
load. From this, controller characteristic such as forward drive,
reverse, braking, and cruise speed can be shown. Using power
meter and oscilloscope, we can analyze how the controller driving
the BLDC motor at forward drive, reverse, braking, and cruise
speed. Besides that, we get the maximum and minimum voltage,
maximum current on BMS that allowed to feed the battery.
Keywords BLDC controller; BLDC motor; Battery
Management System; Lithium Battery.
I. INTRODUCTION
Electric vehicle is one of transportation tools which
commonly discussed by automotive lover. According to
International Standard (ISO 8713:2002), Electric vehicle is
calssified into 2 sections: Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) and
Low Emission Vehicle (LEV). ZEV classified into fuel cell
and battery power electric vehicle. LEV is an electric car
combined with internal combustion engine.
According to the specific controller, control of electric
motor is classified into chopper control, phase control,
frequency control, and vector control. It is chosen by the
design of source and motor which is used. Todays, Lithium
battery is used as source in electric vehicle because of its
benefits. So, Battery Management System (BMS) must be
planted in battery against risk.
Efficiency of the system is different by the source, the
mechanism of system, and the load which is designed before.
We can choose the kind of controller after the source has been
decided. The easy way to control the motor is being thinked
when choosing a controller, but high efficiency and good
performance is the best idea to choose the controller. So, we
can get the controller which drives the electric vehicle needs.
978-1-4673-2470-0/12/$31.00@2012 IEEE
Yanuarsyah Haroen, Nana Heryana
Power Engineering Division
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics ITB
Indonesia
yanuarsyah@gmail.com, nana.heryana@yahoo.com
II. ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Electric Vehicle is a common car which the source is come
from electrical energy, such as from grid, independent source
(battery), or the device which is convert mechanical energy to
electrical energy. Plug-in Hybrid electric Vehicle (PHEVs) are
recently being widely touted as a viable alternative to
conventional vehicle due to their environment friendly and
energy-wise features [1]. There are several types of an electric
vehicle.

source: California PHEV
Figure 1. A comparison of Plug-in electric Vehicle and conventional
vehicle configurations (A) Battery Electric Vehicle (B) Series Plug-In Hybrid
(C) Paralel Plug-In Hybrid (D) Convensional Internal Combustion Engine
In a battery electric vehicle (A), a battery pack and electric
motor replace the gas tank and internal combustion engine of a
conventional vehicle (D). Battery electric vehicles rely
entirely on electricity for fuel and their range is limited by the
size of the battery pack. A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
combines both a battery pack and electric motor with an
internal combustion engine to extend the vehicles range and
provide the option for quick refueling on longer trips. In a
series configuration (B), only the electric motor drives the
wheels directly, and a gasoline-powered engine serves as a
generator to provide additional electricity to the motor. In a
parallel configuration (C), both the gasoline and the electric
motor can directly power the wheels [2].

Source: Mitsubishi i-Miev
Figure 2. Electric Vehicles Component
 Figure 2 shows the electric vehicles component for plug-
in electric vehicle. It is consist of Body or Platform,
Controller, Electric Motor, Battery, and Charging system and
Infrastructure. An all electric vehicle only uses batteries to
power the motor engine instead of petrol. They produce no
tailpipe emissions. Plug-In electric vehicle rely on batteries,
which are recharged from the grid of by regenerative braking
(utilizing brake energy as fuel) [3]. Modern lithium-ion
batteries are much more efficient than old battery technology.
III. DRIVINGS CHARACTERISTIC
In the term of driving, electric motor must be controlled so
that appropriate to cars needs. Drivings characteristic
divided into 3 parts, there are acceleration, constant speed, and
braking. Here are the characteristic curve.
a BLDC motor consists of stacked steel laminations with
windings placed in the slots that are axially cut along the inner
periphery. The rotor is made of permanent magnet and can
vary from two to sixteen pole pairs with alternate North (N)
and south (S) poles. Unliked a brushed DC motor, the
commutation of a BLDC motor is controlled electronically [5].
Here is the block diagram of the Electronic Speed Controller
(ESC).
ip* ias*
 r* Te*
r

Figure 4. Block Diagram of ESC [6]

Most BLDC motors have three Hall sensors embedded into

the stator on the non-driving end of the motor. The error in the
set speed and actual speed is calculated. A proportional plus
integral plus derivative (P.I.D.) controller used to amplify the
 speed error and dynamically adjust the Pulse Width
Figure 3. Drivings Characteristic Curve Speed to Time modulation (PWM) duty cycle. Then, it controls the switch in
inverter to convert DC voltage into AC voltage [6]. Here is the
Figure 3 represent simple drivings characteristic usually input of BLDC motor.
do in the city. In the beginning, the car is idle. Then it is
accelerated until a specific speed (base speed). The speed is
conditioned by the driver. When he want to stop the vehicle,
the driver is going into the 3rd region (braking).
That needs must be accomplished by the electrical
propulsion of the car. From the motor side, it must reach the
speed desired. From the controller side, it must provide the
signal needs for the motor so that motor can accelerate, rotate
at constant speed, and braking.
Equation that shows the relationship between induced
voltage in motor and speed is described as

  (1)

where Ea is the induced voltage (volt),  is the magnetic

fluks,  is the rotor speed (RPM), and K is a constant [4]. The
relationship between torsion and current injected to the motor
is considered as
 
where is the torsion (Nm),  is the magnetic fluks, Ia is
the armature current (ampere), and K is a constant [4].
IV. BLDC CONTROL
BLDC (Brush Less Dirrect Current) motors are type of
synchronous motor. BLDC motors do not experience the
slip that is normally seen in induction motors. The stator of
Figure 5. BLDC Motor Input Curve [6]
(2)
V. BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Lithium ion batteries have much higher energy density
(150-250 Wh/kg) than conventional batteries such as lead-acid
(25-50 Wh/kg), Ni-Cd (30-60 Wh/kg) or Ni-Mh (50-100
Wh/kg) [7]. These batteries are light, compact, and have an
operational voltage averaging on 3,5 V. These super features
make lithium ion batteries as a popular power source for
electric vehicle.
 The rechargeable battery management system is mainly a
monitoring system for a battery right operation. It makes
security decisions in case of dangerous situations and
participates to the battery lifetime increase. The management
system protects the battery against over-voltages, over-current,
and temperature overcoming, in positive and negative ways,
avoiding the battery damages [8].
Source: Bergveld, H.J. Battery Management Systems Design by modelling
Figure 6. BMS Block Diagram
VI. EKSPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
The system arranged by the Battery, Controller, BLDC
Motor, and Load connected in series.
Figure 7. Controllers Testing
Using Lem module and oscilloscope, the output voltage
and current is identified and analyzed in two conditions. There
are constant torque and constant speed. At every condition, the
voltage and currents behave are analyzed at forward, reverse,
and braking mode. Here is the testing of Battery Management
System.
Figure 8. BMSs Testing
At charging mode, battery is connected to data logger [9],
charger, and grid. This system is build to see the maximum
voltage of BMS voltage limit. At discharging mode, battery is
connected to data logger and resistor. This system is build to
see the minimum voltage of BMS voltage limit.
The controller and battery including BMS is implemented
to the Cikal Cakrawala ITB electric vehicle shown at Fig.9.
Figure 9. Cikal Cakrawala ITB Electric Vehicle
Figure 10. Electrical Propulsion Position
The electrical propulsion consists of battery, controller,
and BLDC motor is placed in the back side of the electric
vehicle shown at Fig.10. There are switch to reverse, brake,
and cruise speed on the dashboard.
VII. EKSPERIMENTAL RESULT
A. Controller
This testing is used to see the controller output at different
duty cycle. The output curve of voltage and current are shown
in Fig.11 and Fig.12 with duty cycle 0,15 and 0,75
respectively below.
Figure 11. Output Controller at Duty Cycle 0,15
\
Figure 12. Output Controller at duty cycle 0,75
 The yellow curve is output voltage and the blue one is
output current. Fig. 11 and Fig.12 look that voltage control is
done by control the width of pulse. To higher the speed is to
greater the width of pulse so that Vrms is high.


Figure 16. Output Controller at 270 RPM

Figure 13. Speed to Duty Cycle Curve

The higher value of duty cycle, the faster speed of the rotor
that can be rotated. It means that the frequency of voltage
induced in the motor is higher. 
Figure 17. Output Controller at 1182 RPM

Figure 14. Output Voltage


Figure 18. Voltage to Speed at Constant Torque

Figure 15. Output Current

The input of BLDC motor is 3 phase signal of grey, blue,

and yellow curve. The output voltage is trapezoidal because of
the back emf induced in its stator is trapezoidal. This control is
easier than PMBLDC because the width of the pulse is
Figure 19. Current to Speed at Constant Torque
constant at specific time. Phase delay is appropriate to the
teory, 120. For every phase, it has positive and negative value
It shows that the current tend to be constant every time. At
at one periode. This is good for BLDC needs because for one
speed 434 RPM; the current was not tending to be constant
periode, the stator of BLDC motor must act as north and south
because of the difficulties of measurement by oscilloscope.
pole as winding configuration. The output current shows that
From the data, the current tend to be constant overall. So, at
it has positif and negative value which is controlled by the
constant torque, the current tend to be constant, but the voltage
static switch in electronic speed controller. At one time, only
has to change according to the speed set by the user.
two phase currents flow through the winding and the other is
not. This configuration makes the rotor receive the force to From the data, we can get the fluks constant ( ). The
make it rotate. torsion used in testing is 4,9 Nm. The average current is 7,24
1) Constant Torque A. So, from equation (2),
a) Forward
Fig.16 and Fig.17 show that switching frequency of the 
two conditions is the same. The different speed caused by the
different Vrms. Vrms at 1182 RPM is higher than Vrms at 270
RPM. It caused by the different of width of pulse. The width 
of pulse at 1182 RPM is higher than 270 RPM. It makes the
higer voltage applied to the motor. Nm/A
 The torque needed by the electric vehicle to get started is From the data, electric vehicle designed before can use
13,5 Nm. So, the current must be injected to the BLDC motor forward or reverse mode at specific speed desired by the
from idle is driver. Reverse can be used because of its output power could
occupy electrical vehicles need. This is because the speed of
the motor reach 1113 RPM.


The power of motor increase started from 50,06 Watt at
speed 270 RPM until 219,10 at speed 1182 RPM. This
because the higher speed, makes the higher power at constant
torque according to . The higher speed until 1182
RPM makes its efficiency better than before. It is 87,29 %. It
has not big different with the efficiency got from datasheet
(85,02 %). 
b) Braking Figure 22. Output Voltage at Constant Torque

Figure 20. Output Controller at Braking Mode
It shows that the value of the current is higher when
braking mode is ON. Peak to peak current that can be captured
is 19,4 A. This is very high but in short time. This makes
conclusion that motor needs high power when braking. This
current needed to against the torsion made by the rotation of
the rotor. When braking mode is off, the output voltage and
current back into their normal values.

Figure 23. Output Current at Constant Torque
2) Constant Speed
a) Forward
At constant speed, the width of pulse is same, but the
current has different value for each condition. According to
the theory, its true that the speed is related to the voltage
applied to the BLDC motor. When the speed is kept constant,
the voltage isns change in value. The current related to the
torsion of the rotor.


Figure 21. Peak to Peak Current to Speed at Braking Mode 
Figure 24. Output Voltage at Constant Speed
The higher speed makes the higher I p-p. At speed 434
RPM, I p-p reach31,9 A. When the speed is greater thatn
before, 742 RPM, I p-p reach 50,8 A. This shows that the
power needed to overcome the situation (The higher speed) is
greater.
c) Reverse
The output voltage and current is tending to be the same
with forward mode. The higher speed makes the higher value 
of its voltage induced to the motor. The valu of current is tend Figure 25. Output Current at Constant Speed
to be constant too at different speed.
 The output current increase when the torsion is made
higher. In the beginning, when the torsion is 1,42 Nm, the
current injected to the motor is 4,7 A. When the torsion is 3,54
Nm, the current reach 10,8 A. The higher torsion, the higer
value of current injected to the stator. This is related to the
power. The higher torsion needs the higher power.
From the data, the average voltage is 41,5 V and the
average speed is 1041,1 RPM, So the relationship is described 
below.
Figure 28. Output Current to Torsion at Constant Speed


B. Battery
1) Charging Mode
 This mode is presented to get the upper voltage limitation.
The voltage of battery start from 51,2 V until 57 V shown at
 Fig.29 below.

So, the electric vehicle needs 11,7 V as an applied voltage

to the BLDC motor when runs at 300 RPM. If we use gear
ratio 1:3, the BLDC motor needs 35,1 V to make the motor
runs at 900 RPM.
b) Braking
The higher torsion, makes the higher value of current to
accomplish this condition. This is similar to the condition at
constant torque. So, we need more power to brake the car at
high torque than low torque. Figure 29. Voltage to Time at Charging

Figure 30. Current to Time at Charging

Figure 26. Peak to Peak Current to Torsion at Braking Mode
c) Reverse
Output voltage and current characteristic at reverse mode
is not different to forward mode. Reverse mode can be used to
electric vehicle at forward mode because the torsion produced
reach 4,25 Nm which is accomplish the start torque (13,5 Nm)
at 1:4 gear ratio.
When BMS read the voltage at 57 V, It command switch
to OFF. This is because the capacity of battery is full, so if
charging is continued the battery will damage. Fig.29 shows
that the line is different between accu charging mode. The
shape of the graphic is increasing sharply in the beginning and
the last region. This is related to Lithium Ion characteristic.

 
Figure 27. Output Voltage to Torsion at Constant Speed
Figure 31. State of Charge
 Using integration of Power to Times graphic, we get the
energy transferred to the battery. The energy transferred to the
battery is 360 Wh. It concludes that battery could save the 360
Wh energy.
2) Discharging Mode
This mode is presented to get the lower voltage limitation.
The discharge current is set to 10 A.
Figure 32. Voltage to Time at Discharging
In the beginning when the load is connected to the battery,
the batterys voltage is 50,7 V. This value is decrease every
time because of its capacity. The discharge current is zero
when the voltage is 48,5 V. This is because the BMS detect
that the capacity of battery is zero. So, the BMS command the
switch to OFF. Using integration of Power to Times graphic,
we get the energy consumed by the load. It is 328 Wh. The
discharge current is set to 10 A because the average current
injected to the motor at every condition is 10 A. If the battery
has 10 A discharge current continually, Capacity of battery
will be zero after 40 minutes. This is appropriate to Cikal
Cakrawala ITB electric vehicle that must be used in 30
minutes minimum.
Figure 33. Depth of Discharge
DOD characteristic of the battery is shown at Fig.33
above. In this battery, BMS set the lower limit at DOD 80 %.
So, 48,5 point is the condition that DOD battery is 80 %.
The battery is Lithium Ferit Phosphat 3,3 V / cell, 16 cell.
Battery Capacity is 10 Ah. So, the energy of the battery is 528
Wh. Data which is logged by data logger give information that
the average energy transferred from the battery is 332 Wh.
The amount of energy from theory of battery is 528 x 0,7 =
369Wh. It shows that there isnt a big different between the
data got from testing and theory.
Cikal Cakrawala ITB electric vehicle is designed to have
energy more than 145 Wh. The capacity of battery is 332 Wh.
So, the battery can provide the energy for the vehicle.
VIII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, characteristic of a controller used in Cikal
Cakrawala ITB electric Vehicle is analyzed and BMSs
characteristic is identified.
1. BLDC motor use electronic speed controller as
control which Pulse Width Modulation strategy is
used. The width of pulse has relationship to rotor
speed.
2. The controller can drive Cikal Cakrawala ITB
electric vehicle at constant torque, constant speed,
and braking mode. Acceleration needs constant
current, but different voltage. Constant speed needs
constant voltage, but different current.
3. Battery Management System used to protect the
battery against over-voltages, over-current, and
temperature overcoming, in positive and negative
ways, avoiding the battery damages. The upper
voltage limitation is 57 V and the lower limitation is
48,5 V with maximum current 20 A.
REFERENCES
[1] Li, Xin, Luiz A. C. Lopez, and Sheldon S. Williamson, Chraging Plug-
In hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVS) with Solar energy, Concordia
University
[2] Wittenberg, Diane, Establishing California Leadership In The Plug In
ElectricVehicle Marketplace, Plug In Electric Vehicle Collaborative,
2010
[3] Zhang, Fangzhu, The Green Vehicle Trend: Electric, Plug-In Hybrid or
Hydrogen Fuel Cell?, Cardiff University, 2007
[4] Steve, J. Chapman, Electric Machinery Fundamental, second edition,
McGraw-Hill International Edition, Singapore, 1991
[5] Yedale, Padmaraja, Brushless DC Motor Fundamental, AN885,
Microchip Technology Inc, 2003
[6] R. Krishnan, Electric Motor Drives, Prentice Hall International Inc.,
London, UK, 2001
[7] Scrosati, B. (2005) Power source for portable electronics and hybrid cars:
Lithium batteries and fuel cells, The Chemical Record 5: 286-297.
[8] Buretea, Ph.D. DorinLaurentiu, Hybrid Car Battery Management,
CNCSIS, 2007.
[9] Agus Purwadi, et.all., Prototype Development of a Low Cost Data
Logger for PV Based LED Street Lighting System, Proc. IEEE- ICEEI,
2011.