Optimizing the electric range of plug-in vehicles via fuel economy simulations of real-world driving in California

This paper presents a modeling and simulation study of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in vehicles subject to real-world driving conditions. The simulations utilize open-source software tools for estimation of second-by-second energy and/or fuel consumption in more than 65 thousand real-world recorded trips in the California household travel survey (CHTS) data set. Statistical distributions of the equivalent well-to-wheels (W2W) GHG emissions corresponding to CHTS trips are generated for three baseline public-domain plug-in vehicle models of: (i) parallel-drive plug-in hybrid, (ii) serial-drive plug-in hybrid, and (iii) pure electric vehicle. In addition to the baseline models, several derived vehicle models are created by upsizing of the battery and powertrain via an iterative procedure to attain the new all-electric range (AER). The emissions model also considers days when a pure electric vehicle cannot meet the travel demand by assuming that the driving on those days is done on a conventional vehicle. For each of the considered powertrain architectures, optimizing the AER for minimum GHG emissions becomes a trade-off between reducing the gasoline driven miles and maintaining reasonably sized (lightweight) powertrain components. As such, the equivalent GHG emissions of a vehicle are shown to have diminishing returns in terms of AER, and the optimum AER depends on both the carbon content in the electric grid, as well as the charging behavior. Within considered modeling assumptions and several vehicle usage conditions, the optimum AER is estimated to be between 30 and 60 miles for PHEVs, and between 120 and 200 miles for battery electric vvehicles (BEVs).

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.05.013
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920918312136
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Laberteaux, Kenneth P
  • Hamza, Karim
  • Willard, John
• Publication Date: 2019-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 15-33
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 73
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Driving; Electric vehicles; Fuel consumption; Greenhouse gases; Mathematical models; Plug-in hybrid vehicles; Simulation; Travel surveys; Vehicle range
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01707966
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 17 2019 12:32PM