This article explores a wide variety of energy-saving transportation concepts
that exploit the unique characteristics of electric vehicles. The confluence of
three emerging concepts in transportation, namely electric vehicles, autonomous
navigation, and networked vehicles, is shown to present unprecedented
opportunities for the optimization of transportation efficiency, especially for
passenger and commercial road vehicles. The article addresses both urban and
highway driving situations and some of the associated optimization problems.
After the introduction of a suitable powertrain model, several optimization
problems of practical importance are formulated. It is shown that if the only
term in the cost function is transportation energy, and all other conditions are
formulated as constraints, substantial energy cost reductions are possible. In
particular, the case of energy-optimal speed trajectories is highlighted, and it
is shown that for urban driving, energy savings can exceed 50%, assuming
complete traffic situational awareness. It is further demonstrated that “urban
platooning” is an attractive and viable implementation option for energy-optimal
speed trajectories. Exploiting weather and environmental conditions is another
crucial topic that is analyzed. The article illustrates key ideas via several
simulation examples.
