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Energy management strategies greatly influence the power performance and fuel economy of series hybrid electric tracked bulldozers. In this paper, we present a procedure for the design of a power management strategy by defining a cost function, in this case, the minimization of the vehicle’s fuel consumption over a driving cycle. To explore the fuel-saving potential of a series hybrid electric tracked bulldozer, a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm is utilized to determine the optimal control actions for a series hybrid powertrain, and this can be the benchmark for the assessment of other control strategies. The results from comparing the DP strategy and the rule-based control strategy indicate that this procedure results in approximately a 7% improvement in fuel economy.

Regenerative braking, which can effectively improve vehicle's fuel economy by recuperating the kinetic energy during deceleration processes, has been applied in various types of electrified vehicle as one of its key technologies. To achieve high regeneration efficiency and also guarantee vehicle's brake safety, the regenerative brake should be coordinated with the mechanical brake. Therefore, the regenerative braking control performance can be significantly affected by the structure of mechanical braking system and the brake blending control strategy. By-wire brake system, which mechanically decouples the brake pedal from the hydraulic brake circuits, can make the braking force modulation more flexible. Moreover, its inherent characteristic of ‘pedal-decouple’ makes it well suited for the implementation in the cooperative regenerative braking control of electrified vehicles.