  The high emission and low energy efficiency caused by internal combustion
engines (ICE) have become unacceptable under environmental regulations and the
energy crisis. As a promising alternative solution, multi-power source electric
vehicles (MPS-EVs) introduce different clean energy systems to improve
powertrain efficiency. The energy management strategy (EMS) is a critical
technology for MPS-EVs to maximize efficiency, fuel economy, and range.
Reinforcement learning (RL) has become an effective methodology for the
development of EMS. RL has received continuous attention and research, but
there is still a lack of systematic analysis of the design elements of RL-based
EMS. To this end, this paper presents an in-depth analysis of the current
research on RL-based EMS (RL-EMS) and summarizes the design elements of
RL-based EMS. This paper first summarizes the previous applications of RL in
EMS from five aspects: algorithm, perception scheme, decision scheme, reward
function, and innovative training method. The contribution of advanced
algorithms to the training effect is shown, the perception and control schemes
in the literature are analyzed in detail, different reward function settings
are classified, and innovative training methods with their roles are
elaborated. Finally, by comparing the development routes of RL and RL-EMS, this
paper identifies the gap between advanced RL solutions and existing RL-EMS.
Finally, this paper suggests potential development directions for implementing
advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in EMS.
