The hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) became an alternative to reduce the fuel consumption. The HEV parallel configuration consists of two separated drive systems, such as the engine/powertrain system and an extra electric motors (EMs) system. The addition of an extra electrical power changes the engine operation point and consequently the fuel consumption. However, there are many ways to introduce this electrical power source as a secondary drive system. In this paper, two parallel HEV

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... ns are studied in a condition where the conventional engine/powertrain system, coupled to the vehicle front wheels, is the main power source and two different configurations of EMs drive system, coupled to the rear wheels, are auxiliary power sources. The first one consists of two in-wheel motors coupled directly to the vehicle rear wheels and the other one is an EM coupled to a differential system similar to the existent in the conventional vehicle powertrain. The aim of this paper is to simulate and compare the HEV behavior with the conventional vehicle behavior, both of them running in the Brazilian urban drive cycle NBR6601, evaluating differences in performance, fuel consumption and battery discharging when applicable.