Light duty vehicle fuel economy – Comparison of ice, hybrid and electric vehicles based on different driving cycles

The worldwide concerns and some countries stricter legislations regarding the CO₂ emission of light duty vehicles are motivating new technologies adoption, such as hybrids and electric battery vehicles, and discussions about what fuel economy data comparison between different countries.

International discussions were done about the need to reevaluate the existing standardized driving cycles due to large emission and fuel economy differences when compared to the real road values, leading to the creation of a new cycle called WLTC (Worldwide Harmonized Light Duty Vehicle Test Cycle).

Light duty vehicle fuel economy tests are usually performed on a chassis dynamometer using standard driving cycles under controlled laboratory conditions. Each country regulation defines the standard cycles used for the fuel economy tests. For instance, in USA, it is used five test cycles to obtain the fuel economy (EPA_5cycles) and in Europe is being used the NEDC (New European Test Cycle), that will be substituted by the WLTC cycle in the next years. In Brazil, it is used the FTP-75 (Federal Test Procedure) for the urban part and the HWFET (Highway Fuel Economy Test) for the highway, both cycles were based on USA legislation.

This paper will present a bibliography review and fuel economy comparisons of some Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), Hybrid and electric battery vehicles based on different standardized cycles (EPA_5cycles, NEDC and WLTC). It will also include an explanation of different testing cycles and comparisons of their main characteristics. The aim of this paper is to start the discussion of how the test cycle change can affect different vehicles technologies regarding fuel economy results.