Impacts of Use-Pattern on the Design of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

The statistical character of automobile use is important in determining design requirements for electric/hybrid vehicles and potential car buyers whose transportation needs would adequately be met by a specific car design. In addition, auto-use patterns impact user economics and energy used. This paper is concerned with methods to incorporate auto-use statistics into design and simulation procedures.

Daily vehicle use is analyzed using a Monte Carlo random trip generator model for various percentiles of car owners based on annual urban mileage. Results are presented in terms of log-probability plots of the daily distance traveled as a function of percent of days or percent of annual miles traveled. Statistical results are used to determine requirements and characteristics for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The work reported in this paper was performed on the Near-Term Hybrid Vehicle Program, JPL Contract No. 955190.