Advancements in Sustainable Mobility: Fractional-Order FOC of IM in an Electric Vehicle Powered by an Autonomous PV Battery System

This paper presents a novel fractional-order field-oriented control (FO-FOC) strategy for induction motor drives in electric vehicles (EVs) powered by an autonomous photovoltaic (PV) battery energy system. The proposed control approach integrates a fractional-order sliding mode controller (FO-SMC) into the conventional FOC framework to enhance dynamic performance, improve robustness, and reduce sensitivity to parameter variations. The originality of this work lies in the combined use of fractional-order control and real-time adaptive parameter updating, applied within a PV battery-powered EV platform. This dual-layer control structure allows the system to effectively reject disturbances, maintain torque and flux tracking, and mitigate the effects of component aging or thermal drift. Furthermore, to address the chattering phenomenon typically associated with sliding mode control, a continuous saturation function was employed, resulting in smoother voltage and current responses more suitable for real-time implementation. Extensive simulation studies were conducted under ideal conditions, with parameter mismatch, and with the proposed adaptive update laws. Results confirmed the superiority of the FO-based approach over classical integer-order designs in terms of speed tracking, flux regulation, torque ripple reduction, and system robustness. The proposed methodology offers a promising solution for next-generation sustainable mobility systems requiring high-performance, energy-efficient, and fault-tolerant electric drives.