This chapter describes a methodology of evaluation of the various sustainability indicators, such as reliability, availability, fault tolerance, and reliability-associated cost of the electric propulsion systems, based on a multilevel hierarchical reliability model (MLHRM) of the life cycles of electric vehicles. Considering that the vehicle propulsion systems are safety-critical systems, to each of their components, the strict requirements on reliability indices are imposed. The practical application of the proposed technique for reliability-oriented development of the icebreaking ship’s electric propulsion system and the results of computation are presented. The opportunities of improvement of reliability and fault tolerance are investigated. The results of the study, allowing creating highly reliable electric vehicles and choosing the most appropriate traction electric drive design, are discussed.
Part of the book: Intelligent and Efficient Transport Systems