Effects of Driver Acceleration Behavior on Fuel Consumption of City Buses

Approximately 50% energy is consumed during the acceleration of a city bus. Fuel consumption during acceleration is significantly affected by driving behavior. In this study, 13 characteristic parameters were selected to describe driving style based on analysis of how driving influences fuel consumption during acceleration. The 100,000 km real-world vehicle running data of six drivers on three city buses in a particular bus line in Tianjin, China were sampled using a vehicle-on-line data logger. Based on the selected characteristic parameters and collected driving data, an evaluation model of the fuel consumption level of a driver was established by adopting the method of decision tree C4.5. For two-level classification, the model has over 85% prediction accuracy. The model also has the advantages of having a few training samples and strong generalization. As an example of the model application, the fuel-saving potential of a driver under optimal operations was analyzed. Thus, the model can be used to train and evaluate drivers employed by bus companies.