This paper proposes a new system that gathers numerous methods and devices which help improving the energy management for both conventional vehicles (with a greater benefit for those equipped with a start-stop system), as well as for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), by using energy harvesting devices (including regenerative braking) and auxiliary energy storage devices (AESDs) that consist in a bank of supercapacitors combined with a pack of Li-ion cells, designed to improve the efficiency, convenience and reliability of modern cars. Apart from the thermal energy available mainly from the exhaust system, electromagnetic and solar energy sources can be exploited, in combination with a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converter. Since the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engines (ICEs) is pretty low (below 40 %) for both petrol and Diesel powered vehicles, a part of the wasted energy can be recovered, stored for a certain amount of time and then used for different purposes.

Keywords: Auxiliary energy storage device, Energy harvesting, Hybrid electric vehicles, Maximum power point tracking, Start- Stop system, Supercapacitors