Impact of Hybrid and Electric Mobility in a Medium-Sized Historic City

The goal of the investigation is the evaluation of the environmental impact of hybrid and electric mobility in Lecce, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants in southern Italy. The investigation starts from the definition of specific driving cycles for the University campus and Lecce city center under different conditions of traffic and weather. The data acquired in this way are used to evaluate the performance of four typologies of vehicles: a gasoline city car (Smart Fortwo), the corresponding electric version (Smart ED), three range extenders and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle operating with blended discharge. The simulation of the different power trains is performed with AVL-Cruise and validate through comparison with literature results on the European driving cycle. Particular relevance is given to CO₂ emissions that are calculated with a well-to-wheel approach taking into account the average levels of emissions of the national electric grid and with a Life Cycle Assessment methodology.