The Impact of Drive Cycles and Auxiliary Power on Passenger Car Fuel Economy

Thomas Grube and Detlef Stolten
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Thomas Grube: Institute of Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
Detlef Stolten: Institute of Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-26

Abstract: In view of the advancement of zero emission transportation and current discussions on the reliability of nominal passenger car fuel economy, this article considers the procedure for assessing the potential for reducing the fuel consumption of passenger cars by using electric power to operate them. The analysis compares internal combustion engines, hybrid and fully electric concepts utilizing batteries and fuel cells. The starting point for the newly developed, simulation-based fuel consumption analysis is a longitudinal vehicle model. Mechanical power requirements on the drive side incorporate a large variety of standardized drive cycles to simulate typical patterns of car usage. The power requirements of electric heating and air conditioning are also included in the simulation, as these are especially relevant to electric powertrains. Moreover, on-board grid-load profiles are considered in the assessment. Fuel consumption is optimized by applying concept-specific operating strategies. The results show that the combination of low average driving speed and elevated onboard power requirements have severe impacts on the fuel efficiency of all powertrain configurations analyzed. In particular, the operational range of battery-electric vehicles is strongly affected by this due to the limited storage capacity of today’s batteries. The analysis confirms the significance of considering different load patterns of vehicle usage related to driving profiles and onboard electrical and thermal loads.

Keywords: tank-to-wheel assessment; passenger car fuel economy; electric drives; auxiliary power; fuel cell system; battery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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