A Review on DC-DC Converters Used in Electric Vehicles

Electric cars are gaining popularity across the globe owing to their better performance and zero carbon dioxide emission. Other advantages of EVs include high efficiency, less vibration and noise, and low maintenance cost. Various studies are being performed to enhance the technologies related to electric vehicles like battery management systems, power electronics, and energy storage devices. However, energy storage systems like batteries, fuel cells, or supercapacitors exhibit unregulated and unsteady power output with significant voltage drops. Converters are needed to transfer power to the load from energy storage systems at the required voltage and current. However, converters used in electric cars also have drawbacks such as high current stress, sluggish dynamic response, high switching loss, and a large number of components. Therefore, in this review paper, a brief introduction about different types of DC-DC bidirectional converters used in an electric vehicle is done and for comparing their benefits and drawbacks, a tabular presentation is made. But before that, an introduction about the electric vehicle with a brief discussion about components like energy storage devices, motors, converters control, and modulation techniques is done.