The Vehicle Control Unit, or VCU, plays a vital role in controlling all aspects of a vehicle’s performance, functionality and safety. Purvak Kapoor, Vice President, Vehicle Division, Euler Motors, writes notes on VCU basics.
The vehicle control unit is an electronic control unit that controls the vehicle’s subsystems. VCU responsibilities typically include collaboration, data aggregation, and subsequent decision making. It interacts with various ECUs (electronic control units) in the vehicle’s ecosystem. These various ECUs will ideally include components such as engine controllers (MCU), battery management systems (BMS), on-board chargers (OBC), DCDC, instrument clusters (IC) and telemetry control units (TCU).
The VCU communicates with these ECUs using various communication protocols such as CAN, LIN and Ethernet. All ECUs in the vehicle are responsible for maintaining the operating status of their respective components and transmitting information about them to the VCU. From this point on, VCU means that the car is healthy and working from an electronic and mechanical point of view. Today’s VCUs require reliable, high-speed communication with the transmission controller and intelligent, reliable control of the vehicle’s transmission to coordinate driving modes. The VCU keeps your vehicle running efficiently and safely by monitoring critical systems such as battery health, engine temperature and charge level.
In electric vehicles, the VCU regulates and optimizes the flow of power between the battery and the electric motor. It also monitors and controls other systems such as regenerative braking and charging systems. It receives signals from various sensors in the vehicle and uses this information to control the transmission. For example, when the driver presses the accelerator, the VCU receives a signal from the pedal position sensor and sends a signal to the engine controller to increase the power output of the electric motor. Alternatively, when the driver applies the brakes, the VCU sends a signal to the engine controller to reduce power output and engage the regenerative braking system to slow the vehicle.
Various types of VCU are available and the choice depends on the application and vehicle requirements. For L5 electric vehicles (such as the Euler HiLoad EV) used for freight transport, advanced VCUs with high computing capabilities and integration capabilities with other systems are more suitable. It is necessary to analyze the performance parameters of electric vehicles based on road conditions and other criteria to ensure that the control unit design is reliable and adaptable to improve the dynamic and sustainable performance of the system. At Euler, we develop VCUs that provide superior charge management strategies, high voltage coordination, and temperature management.
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Post time: Oct-11-2023