Definition of a Typical Driving Cycle of an electric taxi in an Andean city

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This research aims to define a Typical Driving Cycle (TDC) of an electric taxi in Loja, Ecuador, an intermediate Andean city, considering the unit in service. In the first instance, the speed, taxi position, current, and battery voltage are acquired in real time through the OBDII port of the KIA SOUL EV, using a data logger device at a sampling rate of 1 Hz. The variables are read and stored using a program code developed in Labview. In addition, the start and end of rides are recorded. The taxi is monitored for a month, and the variable mass of the unit in service is recorded; road gradient effects are considered. Then, based on the fundamental theory of vehicle dynamics, the traction energy consumption of the taxi is obtained using Matlab Simulink; the TDC is defined by applying the Minimum Weighted Differences, whose characteristic parameters are the energies of the different forces opposing the vehicle motion. The vehicle completed 660 rides in the whole month, which is equivalent to an average of 54% of the traction energy; the rest of the energy, the taxi circulated without users. The TDC corresponds to ride 5, on day 11, with a traction energy consumption of 0.57 kWh, being 49.48% associated with inertia resistance.