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2023-01-0446 Published 11 Apr 2023

Optimization Design and Performance Verification

of the Second Generation Single Motor Plug-in
Hybrid System (EDU) of SAIC Motor Vehicle
Company
Hailong ge and Zhiguo Zhao Tongji University

Citation: ge, H. and Zhao, Z., “Optimization Design and Performance Verification of the Second Generation Single Motor Plug-in Hybrid
System (EDU) of SAIC Motor Vehicle Company,” SAE Technical Paper 2023-01-0446, 2023, doi:10.4271/2023-01-0446.

Received: 23 Oct 2022 Accepted: 20 Jan 2023

Abstract
themes of motor performance improvement, system efficiency

S
EAT Department of SAIC Motor Vehicle Company improvement and NVH optimization. SEAT takes the lead
starts innovatively applying the single motor and P2.5 in adopting the hair-pin motor winding scheme, compared
configuration scheme from EDU G2(Electric Drive with the ordinary circular motor, the slot full rate of the
Unit Generation 2), which consists of six engine gears and Hairpin motor is increased by 20%~25%. The number of
four motor gears. EDU G2 is very compact and adaptable motor windings is increased from 2 layers to 5 layers, the
through the coupling design. Gear coupling make the engine maximum efficiency and comprehensive efficiency of the
and motor coordination limited, so as to the high efficiency motor are significantly improved. Compared with the EDU
zone of the engine and the high efficiency zone of the motor G2, EDU G2 Plus has been optimized in some mechanical
cannot match in some working conditions, which affect the paths, including application of low roll resistance bearings,
performance of the vehicle. Therefore, SEAT developed the matching and selection of lubricating oil, optimization of
second generation of single-motor plug-in hybrid system EDU cooling and lubrication system. In NVH performance,
G2 Plus EDU G2(Electric Drive Unit Generation 2 Plus), through motor body optimization and gear modification, the
which realized the decoupling design of 5 engine gears and motor gear is reduced from 41 to 27 order, providing a more
2 motor gears, so that the power output of engine and motor comfortable experience for the vehicle. The innovative scheme
is freely. With excellent power and economic performance, design of this paper provides a reference for the design and
the vehicle has been well received by customers. The article mass production of hybrid P2.5 configuration Plug-in
mainly describes the system design and development on the Hybrid System.

Introduction 1. Evolution of the Layout

Configuration
H
ybrid electric vehicles play a pivotal role in the field
of new energy vehicles because of their advantages
such as good power performance, low fuel consump-
tion, less emissions and long pure battery range. Among them, 1.1. Advantages of Single-
plug-in hybrid vehicles with longer pure electric range, in the Motor Plug-in Hybrid
case of sufficient charging facilities, have a stronger advantage. Electric Drive System
The plug-in hybrid electric drive system has a variety of tech-
nical routes. The mainstream hybrid routes are series, parallel, In the dual-motor hybrid system, ISG motor is mainly used
series and parallel, power split scheme, the most obvious for power generation and TM motor is mainly used for driving.
difference is the number of motors. Single motor hybrid In fact, a single- motor can both generate power and drive
scheme has a strong cost advantage, through the design opti- vehicle, so a single-motor hybrid system can provide a similar
mization of configuration and local technical scheme, to driving experience to a dual-motor hybrid system. At the same
achieve a high cost performance of the vehicle. time, the single-motor solution has a more compact structure
and lower cost due to the reduction of one motor.
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2 OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION

 FIGURE 1   Comparison of Power Envelope

1.2. Features of EDU G2
System
EDU G2 has a number of innovative designs and advantages.
Electromechanical coupling configuration of single-motor is
used to reduce the system cost. Gear reuse and multi-gear are
adopted to improve the system economy. High-power oil-
cooled permanent magnet synchronous motor with wide
speed ratio is adopted to enhance the system power perfor-
mance. Non-powered interchange gear shifts and clutch with
dual mass flywheel are adopted to improve the system driv-
ability. As the system uses the P2.5 electromechanical coupling
configuration, the motor can set in the side of the gearbox so
as to reduce the axial length. Compared with P2 and P3
configurations, EDU G2 has more advantages in the space
layout. Combined with the high-performance motor and
inverter, EDU G2 can fully meet the vehicle power demand.
EDU G2 has six engine gears and four motor gears, which
can realize 9 kinds of gear combination in the hybrid mode,
In a single-motor system, the engine is more used as the as shown in the figure 3. The vehicle starts with motor, which
power source for long distance driving. In order to ensure that can take advantage of the characteristics of high torque of the
the engine can work in efficient status, a single-motor system motor. At high speed, the vehicle is driven by engine, which
generally set multiple engine shifts. Due to the dual-motor takes advantage of the high economy of the engine. In combi-
hybrid system has Series model, the engine can easily work in nation with the subtle shift strategy, EDU G2 can meet the
the high efficiency range. In order to balance the cost and rotational speed and torque requirements under different
simplify the system, a dual-motor system has less number of operation conditions. Energy recovery is carried out during
engine shafts. Single-motor system with multi-gear shifts braking to maximize the economy of the hybrid system.
transmission system has larger power envelope and better
vehicle dynamic performance than dual-motor with less shifts
transmission system. The comparison of power envelope is as 1.3. Design of EDU G2 Plus
shown in the figure 1. At the same time, the multi-gear system
allows the engine to freely choose the speed range, so that the
System
engine can run efficiently. Therefore, the single-motor shifts The configuration of EDU G2 exist coupling relationship,
system is more conducive to the balance of power and economy which cannot achieve any combination of engine gear shifts
in the full speed range. and motor gear shifts. On this basis, SEAT launches EDU G2
The fuel economy performance of the single-motor Plus, Which has a new P2.5 configuration and realized the
system with more shifts and the double-motor with less shifts decouple of gear shifts, as shown in the figure 4. The EDU G2
are significantly different, especially in the middle speed Plus has 5 engine gear shifts and 2 motor gear shifts, which
regions. The former can choose the engine direct drive mode, can realize any combination of engine gear shifts and motor
furthermore by reasonable selection of multi-gear shifts, the gear shifts, as shown in the figure 4.
former can significantly reduce fuel consumption as shown The decoupling of engine and motor gear shifts improves
in the figure 2. the degree of freedom of system control, which is mainly

 FIGURE 3   Layout configuration of EDU G2

 FIGURE 2   Comparison of fuel economy performance
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OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION 3

 FIGURE 4   Layout configuration of EDU G2 Plus  FIGURE 6   Motor oil eject cooling

The working temperature also plays a crucial role in the

reflected in the following four aspects. First, the strategy of performance of the motor. In the traditional hybrid system, the
start-stop engine is not restricted by gear shifts, and the decou- cooling method of the motor is water cooling, which not only
pled configuration can achieve positive start-stop and better needs to increase the cooling related accessories, but also needs
start-stop quality at the same time. Second, the gear position to adopt a larger power cooling device. EDU G2 Plus set the
of engine and motor can be  freely matched during gear motor in the wet cavity of the gearbox, and the cooling method
shifting in the middle and high vehicle speed, the power of oil cooling is adopted. At the same time, the oil can be used
compensation of gear shifting is better and bringing good gear for gear lubrication. The spray tubing is set outside the motor,
shifting comfort. Third, motor and engine power source can as shown in the figure 6. The electronic oil pump provides
freely choose gear matching according to the power situation pressure for the oil so that the low-temperature lubricating oil
so that the starting performance is better in low battery situ- can be sprayed on the surface of the motor shell, which can take
ation. Fourthly, the system can randomly select the engine away the motor heat. The hot oil returns to the bottom of the
and motor gear shifts according to the speed and other factors electric driving unit shell for heat exchange with the shell and
in the range of the vehicle's full speed, so as to ensure that the then enters the oil circulation again. The use of oil cooling mode
power source runs within the highest efficiency range. not only makes the function integration of the electric drive
unit higher, but also reduces the cost of the whole system.

2. Improvement of Motor 2.2. Optimization and

Performance Upgrade of Motor
Scheme
2.1. Design of Hair-Pin Oil- The hair-pin flat wire windings of EDU G2 are in a group of 2
Cooled Motor System layers, arranged from top to bottom. But as the power demand
of the electric vehicle increases, the higher the motor speed,
The efficiency of the motor directly determines the perfor- the higher the frequency of the alternating current passing
mance of the electric drive system. SEAT takes the lead in through the windings. The middle area being wasted, which
adopting the multi-layer Hairpin winding scheme of the is caused by significant skin effect. The surrounding current
motor. Compared with the ordinary round wire winding is high, resulting in significant heating and reduced efficiency.
scheme, as shown in the figure 5, the slot full rate increases Therefore, the power density and torque density of the motor
by 20% and 25%, which effectively reduces the copper can be improved by dividing the winding into multiple layers.
consumption caused by skin effect. In the EDU G2 Plus system, the number of motor
windings is increased from 2 layers to 5 layers and the
maximum speed is increased from 12000rpm to 16000rpm,
 FIGURE 5   Comparison of wire winding section as shown in the figure 7. With the increase in the number of
layers of hairpin, the skin effect and proximity effect of the
windings are reduced. With the significant reduction of
copper consumption, the maximum efficiency and compre-
hensive efficiency of the motor are significantly improved.
Figure 7 shows the efficiency comparison between the 2-layer
and 5-layer hairpin schemes. The motor efficiency of EDU G2
Plus improve 1% compare to EDU G2, and the average motor
efficiency of EDU G2 Plus improve 2% compare to EDU G2.
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4 OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION

 FIGURE 7   Comparison of Motor with 2 layers and 5 layers 3.2.1. Application of Low Roll Resistance
Bearings In order to prevent hard foreign bodies such as
gear abrasive particles from entering the bearing interior,
sealing rings are added on both sides of the deep groove ball
bearing to ensure the cleanliness of the bearing. In gearbox
with poorly cleaned lubricants, adding oil seals has been
shown to increase bearing life by more than 5 times. However,
since the friction torque produced by the sealing ring accounts
for about 50% of the total friction torque of a single ball
bearing, it is particularly important to reduce the friction
torque of the sealing ring. The lip seal is used in the structure
optimization design of EDU G2, whose friction loss is large.
3. System Efficiency The EDU G2 Plus optimizes the design of the oil seal, as shown
in the figure 9. The inner lip is in light contact with the inner
Optimization ring, and the labyrinthine design of the oil seal lip reduces the
friction torque of the sealing ring without changing the ability
to prevent foreign matter from entering. The measured data
3.1. Energy Flow of EDU G2 show that the friction torque of a single sealing ring decreases
by about 30% on average, as shown in the figure 10.
Plus
 FIGURE 9   Comparison of two seal styles
The energy flow of the EDU G2 Plus hybrid system is shown
in the figure 8. In the case of high battery power situation, the
battery energy reaches the motor through the inverter. The
power of the motor is transferred to the wheels through the
gearbox, which can drive the vehicle under pure electric
condition and hybrid parallel condition. In the case of low
battery power situation, part of the energy of the engine drives
the vehicle through the gearbox, and the other part of the
energy drives the motor to reverse through the transmission
system to charge the battery. At the same time, when the
vehicle is braking, the energy drives the motor to charge the
battery through the gear-box.

3.2. Efficiency Optimization
of Mechanical Path
EDU G2 Plus adopts the design of single-motor with multi-
gear shifts transmission. The transmission system is complex,
including gear shaft system, gear shifts system, clutch system
and other systems. Compared with the EDU G2, the EDU G2
Plus has been optimized in many mechanical paths.

 FIGURE 8   Energy flow of EDU G2 Plus

 FIGURE 10   Comparison of friction torque
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OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION 5

3.2.2. Optimization of Cooling and Lubrication  FIGURE 13   Motor gear fixed mode of EDU G2
System EDU G2 Plus Motor adopts oil-cooling scheme.
Since the transmission system corresponding to multiple gears
is relatively complex, the design of cooling and lubrication
system will directly determine the performance of the trans-
mission system. Cooling system not only provides cooling for
the motor, but also responsible for the gear shifts system to
provide necessary lubrication and cooling. EDU G2 Plus uses
shell oil channels with external connecting tubing. By opti-
mizing the oil path, EDU G2 Plus has significantly optimized
the flow resistance and cooling capacity of the system. As a
result, the cooling system's cooling capacity has been signifi-
cantly improved, as shown in the figure 11, and the system's
flow resistance and heat transfer load have been reduced.

4. NVH Performance
Optimization
 FIGURE 14   Motor gear fixed mode of EDU G2 Plus
The NVH performance of electric drive transmission is an
important indicator for the evaluation of vehicle driving
comfort. SEAT has accumulated experience in frequency
response vibration simulation analysis since the EDU G2
project, and has established a complete vibration and noise
simulation capability, as shown in the figure 12. Based on the
improvement of system simulation ability and the research
on the mechanism of NVH generation, SEAT has made many
optimizations of NVH in the design of EDU G2 Plus.

4.1. Motor Gear Structure

Optimization
Due to the low background noise in pure electric condition,
the high frequency motor gear noise is easier to be perceived.
During the design of EUU G2 Plus, the motor gear is changed
 FIGURE 11   Comparison of cooling system from cantilever structure to two ends support, shortening the
relative parameter length of the gear shaft and thus improving the deformation
of the gear shaft, as shown in the figure 13 and figure 14.
Through this optimization, the transmission error of the gear
is reduced by 50% and the accurate meshing of the gear, thus
improving the NVH performance.

 FIGURE 15   Optimization of gear microscopic parameter

 FIGURE 12   Complete capability of vibration and

noise simulation
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6 OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION

 FIGURE 16   Harmonic slot of Motor rotor TABLE 1  Vehicle Performance Comparation with EDU G2 and
EDU G2 Plus
Vehicle with Vehicle with
Item EDU G2 Plus EDU G2
0~100 Acceleration Time(s) 6.9 7.5
NEDC Vehicle Fuel 1.4 1.6
Consumption(L/100km)
Electric equivalent fuel 1.58 1.74
consumption(L/100km)

 FIGURE 18   Optimization of NVH performance

 FIGURE 17   Motor noise reduction from EDU G2 to EDU
G2 Plus

is obviously optimized, especially in the middle and high

4.2. NVH Optimization of speed range, the motor gear is reduced from 41 order to 27
Motor Body order, and the noise order is closer to the back noise area of
The motor adopts rotor inclined pole and harmonic groove the vehicle as shown in the figure 18. As a result, background
design optimization as shown in the figure 16, to reduce the noise masking is better, providing a more comfortable driving
size of electromagnetic force in the process of motor operation. experience for the vehicle.
The noise inside the car can be reduced, so that users can get
a better driving experience. The experimental results show
that the noise of the motor optimized by these two measures
is reduced by 5~8dB compared with that before optimization,
Summary
as shown in the figure 17.
This paper mainly focuses on the single motor P2.5 configura-
tion parallel hybrid scheme, and describes the advantages by
the optimization of the coupled configuration in the first
5. Vehicle Performance generation system to the decoupled configuration in the
second generation system. For motor system, the performance
Comparation improvement by using hairpin motor multilayer scheme. For
the transmission efficiency, the efficiency of the transmission
The vehicle equipped with EDU G2 Plus transmission has system is improved by using low roll resistance bearings and
achieved mass production. See Table 1 for relevant parameters. optimizing the cooling system. To improve the performance
The two projects carry the same vehicle type, The performance of NVH, the noise of the vehicle was reduced by optimizing
of EDU G2 Plus is significantly improved by optimization. the gear shaft structure and motor body design. Through a
The EDU G2 Plus NVH has significantly improved series of design innovation and system optimization, it brings
compared to the previous generation, and the overall howling good performance for the vehicle. This paper provides a
performance has significantly improved. Through motor body competitive solution for Plug-in Hybrid System by the single
optimization and gear modification, the main order of motor motor P2.5 configuration parallel scheme.
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OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF THE SECOND GENERATION 7

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