Understanding freight drivers' behavior and the impact on vehicles' fuel consumption and CO2e emissions

Zhuowu Zhang (), Emrah Demir (), Robert Mason () and Carla Cairano-Gilfedder ()
Additional contact information
Zhuowu Zhang: Cardiff University
Emrah Demir: Cardiff University
Robert Mason: Cardiff University
Carla Cairano-Gilfedder: BT Applied Research

Operational Research, 2023, vol. 23, issue 4, No 4, 35 pages

Abstract: Abstract Despite the significant impact of driver behavior on fuel consumption and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, this phenomenon is often overlooked in road freight transportation research. We review the relevant literature and seek to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between freight drivers’ behavior and fuel consumption. This study utilizes a real-life dataset of over 4000 driving records from the freight logistics sector to examine the effects of specific behaviors on fuel consumption. Analyzed behaviors include harsh acceleration/deceleration/cornering, over-revving, excessive revolutions per minute (RPM), and non-adherence to legal speed limits ranging from 20 to 70 miles per hour (mph). Our findings confirm existing literature by demonstrating the significant impact of certain driving characteristics, particularly harsh acceleration/cornering, on fuel consumption. Moreover, our research contributes new insights into the field, notably highlighting the substantial influence of non-adherence to the legal speed limits of 20 and 30 mph on fuel consumption, an aspect not extensively studied in previous research. We subsequently introduce an advanced fuel consumption model that takes into account these identified driver behaviors. This model not only advances academic understanding of fuel consumption determinants in road freight transportation, but also equips practitioners with practical insights to optimize fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

Keywords: Green logistics; Driver behavior; Fuel consumption modeling; CO2e emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12351-023-00798-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:operea:v:23:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s12351-023-00798-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... search/journal/12351

DOI: 10.1007/s12351-023-00798-2

Access Statistics for this article

Operational Research is currently edited by Nikolaos F. Matsatsinis, John Psarras and Constantin Zopounidis

More articles in Operational Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().