PASSENGER CARS - ENERGY ACCOUNTING. "THE EFFECT OF TRAFFIC FLOW, AVERAGE SPEED AND DRIVING STYLE ON FUEL CONSUMPTION OF EUROPEAN MOTOR CARS"

Liquid fuel and lubricating oils account for two thirds of the total energy used in the life of a modern car. When considering fuel consumption of road vehicles the established way of relating fuel used to distance covered leaves out the important third dimension: time taken to complete the trip. Optimum overall fuel economy under fairly free flowing traffic conditions occurs for most medium sized cars when cruising at around 50 mph. Slow speed progress under peak travel conditions, which in the UK affects about half the annual mileage travelled, drastically increases fuel consumption. Better traffic flow management to minimise road congestion can do more to achieve better fuel economy than almost any other practical measure. Weight reduction is 3 times as effective as the measures taken to date to improve the aerodynamics of cars. The paper is based on extensive systematic real life testing of over 120 makes and models of European and Japanese motor cars. It also includes an analysis of fleet usage of 1800 identical vans on similar work schedules covering some 12 million road miles travelled annually. This confirms that traffic flow rates and terrain are the most important factors which determine fuel consumption and that forecasting from one fully instrumented van on different routes gave agreement for typical road and traffic conditions each to be within plus or minus per cent. (Author/TRRL)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings of the 19th International Fisita Congress, Melbourne, Australia, November 8-12, 1982.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers

  191 Royal Parade
  Parkville, Victoria 3052,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • JACOBSON, M A
• Publication Date: 1982-11

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 79.1
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Society of Automotive Engineers (Australasia)
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Average travel speed; Conferences; Driver performance; Drivers; Driving; Fuel consumption; Highway traffic control; Lubricating oils; Motor vehicles; Personnel performance; Speed; Test procedures; Traffic flow; Traffic speed; Vans; Vehicle weight
• ITRD Terms: 5409: Average speed; 1243: Car; 8525: Conference; 1855: Driving (veh); 232: Fuel consumption; 6288: Test method; 671: Traffic flow
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment; I96: Vehicle Operating Costs;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00376190
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAEA 82079, HS-035 687
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 30 1984 12:00AM