This article reviews the design and evaluation of different DC-DC converter topologies for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). The design and evaluation of these converter topologies are presented, analyzed and compared in terms of output power, component count, switching frequency, electromagnetic interference (EMI), losses, effectiveness, reliability and cost. This paper also evaluates the architecture, merits and demerits of converter topologies (AC-DC and DC-DC) for Fast Charging Stations (FCHARs). On the basis of this analysis, it has found that the Multidevice Interleaved DC-DC Bidirectional Converter (MDIBC) is the most suitable topology for high-power BEVs and PHEVs (> 10kW), thanks to its low input current ripples, low output voltage ripples, low electromagnetic interference, bidirectionality, high efficiency and high reliability. In contrast, for low-power electric vehicles (<10 kW), it is tough to recommend a single candidate that is the best in all possible aspects. However, the Sinusoidal Amplitude Converter, the Z-Source DC-DC converter and the boost DC-DC converter with resonant circuit are more suitable for low-power BEVs and PHEVs because of their soft switching, noise-free operation, low switching loss and high efficiency. Finally, this paper explores the opportunity of using wide band gap semiconductors (WBGSs) in DC-DC converters for BEVs, PHEVs and converters for FCHARs. Specifically, the future roadmap of research for WBGSs, modeling of emerging topologies and design techniques of the control system for BEV and PHEV powertrains are also presented in detail, which will certainly help researchers and solution engineers of automotive industries to select the suitable converter topology to achieve the growth of projected power density.

Multiphase converter topologies for use in high-performance applications have received increasing interest in recent years. This paper proposes a novel multidevice interleaved boost converter (MDIBC) that interfaces the fuel cell with the powertrain of hybrid electric vehicles. In this research, a multidevice structure with interleaved control is proposed to reduce the input current ripples, the output voltage ripples, and the size of passive components with high efficiency compared with the other topologies. In addition, low EMI and low stress in the switches are expected. The proposed dc/dc converter is compared to other converter topologies such as conventional boost converter (BC), multidevice boost converter (MDBC), and two-phase interleaved boost converter (IBC) to verify its dynamic performance. Furthermore, a generalized small-signal model is derived for these dc/dc converters, which has not been previously discussed. A digital dual-loop control is designed to achieve the proper regulator for the converters with fast transient response. The dc/dc converter topologies and their controller are designed and investigated by using MATLAB/Simulink. Finally, the proposed converter (MDIBC) is experimentally validated with results obtained from a 30-kW prototype that has been built and tested in our laboratory based on TMS320F2808 DSP. The simulation and experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed converter is more efficient than other dc/dc converter topologies in achieving high performance and reliability for high-power dc/dc converters.