By using high-power and high-efficiency propulsion systems,current hybrid electric vehicles(HEVs) in market can achieve excellent fuel economy and kinetic performance.However,it is the cost of current HEVs that hinders HEVs coming into widespread use.A novel hybrid electric propulsion system is designed to balance HEV cost and performance for developing markets.A battery/supercapacitor-based hybrid energy storage system(HESS) is used to improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce battery size and cost.An all-in-one-controller(AIOC) which integrates engine electronic control unit(ECU),motor ECU,and HESS management system is developed to save materials and energy,and reduce the influence of distribution parameters on circuit.As for the powertrain configuration,four schemes are presented:belt-driven starter generator(BSG) scheme,four-wheel drive HEV scheme,full HEV scheme,and ranger-extender electric vehicle(EV) scheme.Component selection and parameter matching for the propulsion system are performed,and an energy management strategy is developed based on powertrain configuration and selected components.Forward-facing simulation models are built,comprehending the control strategy based on the optimal engine torque for the low-cost hybrid electric propulsion system.Co-simulation of AVL CRUISE and Matlab/Simulink is presented and the best scheme is selected.The simulation results indicate that,for the best design,fuel consumption in urban driving condition is 4.11 L/(100 km) and 0-50 km/h accelerating time is 10.95 s.The proposed research can realize low-cost concept for HEV while achieving satisfactory fuel economy and kinetic performance,and help to improve commercialization of HEVs. By using high-power and high-efficiency propulsion systems, current hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in market can achieve excellent fuel economy and kinetic performance. However, it is the cost of current HEVs that hinders HEVs coming into widespread use. A novel hybrid electric propulsion system is designed to balance HEV cost and performance for developing markets. A battery / supercapacitor-based hybrid energy storage system (HESS) is used to improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce battery size and cost. An all-in-one-controller (AIOC) which integrates engine electronic control unit (ECU), motor ECU, and HESS management system is developed to save materials and energy, and reduce the influence of distribution parameters on circuit. As for the powertrain configuration, four schemes are presented: belt -driven starter generator (BSG) scheme, four-wheel drive HEV scheme, full HEV scheme, and ranger-extender electric vehicle (EV) scheme. Component selection and parameter matching for the propulsion syst em are performed, and an energy management strategy is developed based on powertrain configuration and selected components. Forward-facing simulation models are built, comprehending the control strategy based on the optimal engine torque for the low-cost hybrid electric propulsion system. Co-simulation of AVL CRUISE and Matlab / Simulink is presented and the best scheme is selected. The simulation results indicate that for the best design, fuel consumption in urban driving condition is 4.11 L / (100 km) and 0-50 km / h accelerating time is 10.95 s. The proposed research can realize low-cost concept for HEV while achieving satisfactory fuel economy and kinetic performance, and help to improve commercialization of HEVs.