Performance Analysis of a 1.5 kW Bidirectional Onboard Charger for Light Electric Vehicles

Abstract

This paper presents a 1.5 kW Totem-Pole Bidirectional (TPBD) onboard battery charger for light electric vehicle (LEV) applications. The TPBD charger employs a totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) AC-DC converter at the front end and a bidirectional buck-boost DC-DC converter at the battery interface to accomplish efficient power conversion and battery regulation. The system operates on a single-phase 230 V , 50 Hz AC supply and has a battery voltage range of 48-51 V , making it suitable for low-voltage light electric vehicle battery packs. To improve grid current quality and eliminate harmonic distortion, the AC-DC converter uses a hybrid pulse-width modulation (HPWM) control approach, enabling rapid dynamic response and accurate current shaping. As a result, the converter has a power factor of 0.99 and maintains a low total harmonic distortion (THD) of 1.51% in input current, complying with IEEE 519 standards. The bidirectional DC-DC converter ensures regulated power flow and effective voltage regulation, enabling safe and reliable battery charging and discharging. The system uses fewer components and a simple control technique, resulting in high efficiency, compact size, and reliable bidirectional power transfer, making it suitable for light electric vehicle applications.