Evaluation of a Real-World Driving Cycle and its Impacts on Fuel Consumption and Emissions

In order to improve urban air quality and to meet legislation requirements, vehicular technology is constantly advancing. It focuses on techniques that reduce fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases as well as harmful pollutant emissions. The technologies, however, have different impacts depending on the city, its traffic conditions and urban planning as well as other socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect the driving stile. Thus, standard drive cycles such as NEDC, FTP75 and HWFET may not represent properly the actual condition and are being progressively replaced by real-world driving cycles. This paper aims to analyze real-world driving conditions in the city of Santa Maria, in southern Brazil, in respect to emissions and fuel consumption. Computer models were used to establish a comparison between standard conditions and real conditions, acquired experimentally by a family car. Impacts of each real-world drive cycle were analyzed and discussed to suggest appropriate solutions for the city’s urban motorized mobility.