Determining the route for the purpose light vehicles testing in Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test

Abstract

In the regulations concerning approval of light vehicles starting from September 2019 it will be necessary to conduct exhaust emis-sions tests both on a chassis dynamometer and for real driving emissions. It is a legislative requirement set forth in EU regulations for the purpose of the RDE (Real Driving Emissions) procedure. To decide on the RDE route for the purpose of the LV exhaust emissions tests many requirements must be fulfilled, regarding for ex-ample external temperature and the topographic height of the tests, driving style (driving dynamic parameters), trip duration, length of respective test sections (urban, rural, motorway, etc.). The works on outlining RDE routes are continued across the country in various research centres. Specifying the RDE route for test purposes, i.e. works in which the authors of this article are actively involved, has become a major challenge for future approval surveys concerning the assessment of hazardous emissions from light vehicles and for development studies focusing on – for example – the consumption of energy in electric and hybrid vehicles. The vehicle load was consistent with the requirements of the standard and included the aforesaid measurement device, the driver and the operator of PEMS. The tests were carried out on working days. The streets and roads used for the tests were hard-surfaced. Meas-urements were performed in accordance with the requirements of RDE packages (Package 1–4), i.e. taking into account – among others the engine cold start. The article discusses the method of outlining the test route fulfilling the specific requirements for RDE testing. Chosen results of ex-haust emissions from a passenger car with a spark-ignition engine along the defined RDE test route have been provided. The tests discussed in the article are introductory in the area of RDE tests and provide an introduction into further studies of exhaust emissions and energy consumption in real driving conditions in conventional vehicles and vehicles with alternative engines, e.g. hybrid and electric vehicles.