eABS: Regenerative Anti-Lock Braking for Electric Motorcycles

Linked front and rear braking systems are difficult to implement properly on motorcycles due to the large changes in wheel loading under braking. At the braking limit, there is little to no load on the rear wheel and any brake torque could lock it, making the vehicle laterally unstable. Therefore, most motorcycles have independent controls for the front and rear brakes, requiring the rider to balance the brake force distribution. Electric motorcycles have the ability to utilize the drive motor to apply braking torque at the rear wheel. In this paper a control technique has been developed to link rear wheel braking torque to the front brake lever without risking rear tire lock. Thereby, it is also possible to recapture the energy from rear wheel braking. The control strategy has been tested on a transient pitch model, with rotating wheels and tire model data. It has been found that the control strategy provides significant reduction of stopping time and distance when compared to only using the front brake, while maintaining lateral stability of the motorcycle and not requiring any additional effort from the rider.