Real-World Usage of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Fuel Consumption, Electric Driving, and CO₂ Emissions

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the global level, and air pollution at the local level, if they are driven mainly on electric power. But there is little evidence on how much electric driving PHEVs really perform versus how much they run on their combustion engines. The authors analyzed the actual usage and fuel consumption of around 100,000 PHEVs in China, Europe, and North America, and their analysis yielded several findings: 1) PHEV fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in real driving are two to four times higher than approved values, and the real share of electric driving is half that proposed in the approved values. For private automobiles, the average utility factor (UF) (the portion of distances driven on electric motors versus combustion engines), is 69% for New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) approval but only around 37% for real driving. For company automobiles, an average UF of 63% for NEDC and approximately 20% for real driving was found. 2) There are notable differences between the analyzed countries, with the highest UF in Norway at 53% for private vehicles and the United States at 54% for private vehicles. The lowest UFs were for China at 26% for private vehicles, Germany with 18% for company vehicles and 43% for private vehicles, and the Netherlands with 24% for company vehicles. 3) Most PHEVs have approved all-electric ranges of 30 to 60 kilometers (km) and travel 5,000 to 10,000 km a year on electric power. PHEVs with high all-electric ranges of 80 km or more achieve 12,000 to 20,000 km average annual electric mileages. The high annual electric kms reflect high annual mileages of PHEVs despite low UFs. The share of kilometers that PHEVs travel on electric power results in a total of 15 to 55% less CO₂ emissions compared to conventional vehicles, which is much lower than was expected from approved values. 4) Decreasing the power of the combustion engine while increasing the all-electric range, and extending the availability of charging stations, can improve the fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions of PHEVs. Fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions decrease by 2% to 4% with each 10 kiloWatts of system power taken out of a PHEV. Simultaneously, adding 10 km of all-electric range improves real-world values by 8% to 14%.

• Record URL:
  https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/PHEV-white%20paper-sept2020-0.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://theicct.org/publications/phev-real-world-usage-sept2020
• Corporate Authors:

  International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

  1500 K Street NW, Suite 650
  Washington, DC  United States  20005

  Fraunhofer ISI

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Plötz, Patrick
  • Moll, Cornelius
  • Biecker, George
  • Mock, Peter
  • Li, Yaoming
• Publication Date: 2020-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: White Paper
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 57p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Carbon dioxide; Electric drives; Exhaust gases; Fuel consumption; Plug-in hybrid vehicles; Vehicle range
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01757966
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 17 2020 2:36PM