Design, simulation, and prototype production of a through the road parallel hybrid electric motorcycle

•Design, simulation, and manufacturing of a hybrid electric motorcycle are explained.•The electric machine is mounted in the front wheel hub of an ordinary motorcycle.•Two different energy control strategy are implemented.•The simulation results show that the motorcycle performance is improved.•The acceleration is improved and the fuel consumption and pollutions are decreased. In this paper, design, simulation, and conversion of a normal motorcycle to a Hybrid Electric Motorcycle (HEM) is described. At first, a simple model designed and simulated using ADVISOR2002. Then, the controller schematic and its optimized control strategy are described. A 125cc ICE motorcycle is selected and converted into a HEM. A brushless DC (BLDC) motor assembled in the front wheel and a normal internal combustion engine in the rear wheel propel the motorcycle. The nominal powers are 6.6kW and 500W for the ICE and BLDC respectively. The original motorcycle has a Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) that is the best choice for a HEM power transmission because it can operate in the automatic handling mode and has high efficiency. Moreover, by using the CVT, the ICE can be started while motorcycle is running. Finally, three operating modes of HEM, two implemented energy control strategies, and HEM engine control system by servomotors, and LCD display are explained.