POWERTRAIN ARCHITECTURES AND CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR INTELLIGENT ELECTRIC SCOOTERS

Presented are adaptive propulsion assist systems and control logic for manually-powered vehicles, methods for making/using such systems, and intelligent electric scooters with distributed sensing and control-loop feedback for adaptive e-assist operations. A method for regulating a propulsion assist system of a manually-powered vehicle includes a vehicle controller detecting a user contacting the vehicle's handlebar, responsively receiving sensor signals indicative of a user-applied force to the handlebar, and then determining a net user-applied force based on the handlebar force and user-generated forces applied to the scooter deck. The vehicle controller also receives sensor signals indicative of the vehicle's current acceleration, and determines therefrom a pitch angle of the surface on which the vehicle moves. Responsive to the net force being greater than zero and the pitch angle being greater than a calibrated threshold angle, the controller commands the traction motor to increase motor torque output by a calibrated force gain increment.