Optimized Nonlinear Control Strategies for Hybrid Electric Vehicles Integrating Photoelectrochemical and Photovoltaic Cells with Fuel Cells, Batteries, and Supercapacitors

Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining traction due to the depletion of fossil fuel and natural gas reserves. To counteract the harmful impacts of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, adopting renewable energy sources is crucial. This study presents a novel optimized nonlinear control strategy for a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) designed for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), The HESS incorporates fuel cells (FC), batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrid photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic cells (HPEV). These power sources are connected through a DC-DC power converter, which subsequently powers a DC-AC inverter and an electric motor. The proposed controller utilizes a supertwisting sliding mode control (STSMC) approach to achieve precise DC bus voltage regulation, efficient current tracking for the energy sources, and ensure the closed-loop system's global asymptotic stability. The gain parameters of the STSMC are fine-tuned using the genetic algorithm (GA) to enhance system performance. Furthermore, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for the HPEV system is implemented via the perturb and observe (P&O) method. The effectiveness of the optimized HESS is evaluated through MATLAB/Simulink simulations, utilizing data from an extra-urban driving cycle. Additionally, hardware-in-the-loop (C-HIL) testing validates the simulation results, confirming the system's performance in real-world scenarios.