SIMBIKE ELECTRIC, a tool for the simulation of electric racing motorcycles

Abstract

Electric racing motorcycles are vehicles characterized by high acceleration, high weight and low autonomy. During their design, the aim is to integrate the battery and the powertrain into the motorcycle chassis in such a way that the motorcycle can perform its function optimally from a performance point of view. This design process is simplified because the operating conditions of the motorcycle in a circuit are repeatable and because it is relatively easy to perform a simulation of the motorcycle in such conditions including a simplified thermal model and a simplified electrical model, in addition to the simplified model of the vehicle and rider dynamics, resulting in a simplified multiphysics simulation. To carry out this task, the SIMBIKE ELECTRIC tool has been developed, which allows estimating the overall performance (acceleration, maxi-mum speed, lap time), the energy consumption, the achievable regeneration and the heat generated in the different electrical components and to be evacuated by the cooling systems. This tool allows to simulate different motorcycle designs as well as to adjust different motorcycle tuning parameters (for example, the engine torque curve, the chain transmission ratio, the position of the center of mass,..., etc.) and different track layouts in a simple way. The simulation obtained is robust and very efficient, working below real time and facilitating its use in a process of obtaining the optimal configuration for both the design and the tuning of the motorcycle. The developed tool has been validated by comparing the calculated performances with those obtained by the electric motorcycle of the University of Oviedo team in the dynamic tests of the Motostudent Electric competition held in 2021 at the Motorland Aragon circuit.