Browse Topic: Drive cycles
Harbinger revealed its HC Series Cab during Work Truck Week 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The HC Series is a new line of medium-duty, low cab forward vehicles available as both an electric and plug-in hybrid model. Harbinger states that the HC Series' hybrid powertrain uses a range-extended hybrid platform with a gasoline engine to recharge the truck's batteries, extending range up to 500 miles (805 km), depending on upfit configuration and drive cycle.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) with an increasing level of electrification, are becoming a major part of the global energy transition. To achieve lower engine tailpipe exhaust emissions and improve total fuel consumption, typically the HEV control system expertly and frequently switches between the internal combustion engine and electric motor drive, with multiple stops and restarts of the internal combustion engine (ICE). As a consequential result of this switching, are typically slower or even incomplete engine warm-up times, depending on the engine speed, load pattern and run time of the vehicle drive cycle. Along with the speed and load transient control, the engine stop and start processes are also challenging to control, with respect to cold start fuel and combustion by-products entering the oil. Consequently, contamination enters the engine oil but may not completely leave. These effects are highly transient over the drive cycle. Contaminants and in particular, fuel dilution, will affect the engine oil viscosity. To demonstrate this whilst yielding insights, a precisely controlled engine test cell, running the cold start Worldwide Harmonized Light Duty Transient Cycle (WLTC) for both, a non-hybridized ICE only vehicle and a HEV in charge sustaining mode operation is described. This also has on-line viscosity sensing and oil sampling. Typical data is shared along with engine oil comparisons. For complimentary insights, the impact of the fuel dilution on engine friction was investigated using a novel, precise, fully transient engine friction test rig, which measures gasoline direct injection high pressure fuel-pump friction and engine oil viscosity accurately. The cycle is based on measured data from vehicles tested on a chassis dynamometer. On-line friction data, with oil comparisons is used to show real-time data of the effect of fuel dilution on the frictional energy required, thus CO2 over the full WLTC.
In recent times, a standard driving cycle is an excellent way to measure the electric range of EVs. This process is standardized and repeatable; however, it has some drawbacks, such as low active functions being tested in a controlled environment. This sometimes causes huge variations in the range between driving cycles and actual on-road tests. This problem of variation can be solved by on-road testing and testing a vehicle for customer-based velocity cycles. On-road measurement may be high on active functions while testing, which may give an exact idea of real-world consumption, but the repeatability of these test procedures is low due to excessive randomness. The repeatability of these cycles is low due to external factors acting on the vehicle during on-road testing, such as ambient temperature, driver behavior, traffic, terrain, altitude, and load conditions. No two measurements can have the same consumption, even if they are done on the same road with the same vehicle, due to the influence of the above-mentioned external factors. The current paper will portray a machine learning-based methodology to parameterize the external factors affecting e-motor consumption. By parameterizing these factors, on-road test results are normalized and further used for comparative studies. The paper also takes us through the process of data collection for this study, the parameterization process of external factors using ML models, for different driving scenarios and ambient temperature ranges. The ML models are developed in a MATLAB environment and can be reproduced in any other tool. Merits and demerits of each ML model are discussed along with ways and means to mitigate each external factor, which will make the testing procedure more robust and reliable. Thus, it helps in making automobiles more energy efficient.
In-Use emission compliance regulations globally mandate that machines meet emission standards in the field, beyond dyno certification. For engine manufacturers, understanding emission compliance risks early is crucial for technology selection, calibration strategies, and validation routines. This study focuses on developing analytical and statistical methods for emission compliance risk assessment using Fleet Intelligence Data, which includes high-frequency telematics data from over 500K machines, reporting more than 1000 measures at 1Hz frequency. Traditional analytical methods are inadequate for handling such big data, necessitating advanced methods. We developed data pipelines to query measures from the Enterprise Data Lake (A Structured Data storage system), address big data challenges, and ensure data quality. Regulatory requirements were translated into software logic and applied to pre-processed data for emission compliance assessment. The resulting reports provide actionable insights on NOx sensor activity, engine warmup operations, high-risk drive cycles, and load profiles across different operation regimes. This approach significantly reduces the reliance on costly and labor-intensive physical testing with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) by integrating advanced analytical methods into the workflow. By leveraging high-frequency telematics data, this method enables engineers to identify failed machines in the field more efficiently. It also provides valuable insights and reasoning behind these failures, facilitating quicker and more informed decision-making. This not only enhances emission compliance monitoring but also optimizes resource allocation and reduces overall regulatory risks. In summary, the developed methods enable effective emission compliance monitoring, reduce regulatory risks, and help optimize calibration strategies by understanding customer usage patterns. These methods are scalable for various emission regulations.
Evaluating the impact of software changes on fuel consumption and emissions is a critical aspect of transmission development. To evaluate the trade-offs between performance improvements and potential negative effects on efficiency, a forward-looking Software-in-the-Loop (SiL) simulation has been developed. Unlike backward calculations that derive fuel consumption based solely on cycle speed and engine speed, this approach executes complete driving cycles as the Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (WLTC) within a detailed SiL environment. By considering all relevant influencing factors in a dynamic simulation, the method provides a more accurate assessment of fuel consumption and emission differences between two versions of the transmission software. The significant contribution of this work lies in the high-fidelity integration of a real virtual Transmission Control Unit (vTCU) software within a comprehensive, validated forward-looking SiL environment. This approach enables precise delta comparisons that capture transient dynamic interactions, facilitating early, reliable software testing and validation.
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