Impact of Different Driving Cycles and Operating Conditions on CO2 Emissions and Energy Management Strategies of a Euro-6 Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Marcos Otura Garcia,Giuseppe Di Pierro,Federico Millo,Georgios Fontaras,Claudio Cubito,Germana Trentadue,Biagio Ciuffo,Simone Serra,Giulio Boccardo

doi:10.3390/en10101590

Marcos Otura Garcia, Giuseppe Di Pierro + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en10101590

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Oct 13, 2017
Citations: 50	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Joint Research Centre, Polytechnic University of Turin

Abstract

Although Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) represent one of the key technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, their effective potential in real world driving conditions strongly depends on the performance of their Energy Management System (EMS) and on its capability to maximize the efficiency of the powertrain in real life as well as during Type Approval (TA) tests. Attempting to close the gap between TA and real world CO2 emissions, the European Commission has decided to introduce from September 2017 the Worldwide Harmonized Light duty Test Procedure (WLTP), replacing the previous procedure based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The aim of this work is the analysis of the impact of different driving cycles and operating conditions on CO2 emissions and on energy management strategies of a Euro-6 HEV through the limited number of information available from the chassis dyno tests. The vehicle was tested considering different initial battery State of Charge (SOC), ranging from 40% to 65%, and engine coolant temperatures, from −7 °C to 70 °C. The change of test conditions from NEDC to WLTP was shown to lead to a significant reduction of the electric drive and to about a 30% increase of CO2 emissions. However, since the specific energy demand of WLTP is about 50% higher than that of NEDC, these results demonstrate that the EMS strategies of the tested vehicle can achieve, in test conditions closer to real life, even higher efficiency levels than those that are currently evaluated on the NEDC, and prove the effectiveness of HEV technology to reduce CO2 emissions.

Highlights

Increasing environmental awareness has been a key driver during the past two decades for the introduction of stricter regulations for the control of pollutant and CO2 emissions from passenger cars.In particular the European Union (EU) has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transport by 60% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels [1]
The market penetration of these new technologies is still quite limited, struggling with often inadequate range capabilities, high costs and lack of infrastructures [7,8,9,10,11]. In this framework Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) represent an extremely promising solution for the automotive industry to bridge the gap between the desirable features of electric powertrains, the range capability and the more affordable costs of conventional vehicles, because they can ensure higher fuel efficiency and lower pollutant emissions compared to conventional powertrains due to the flexibility provided by the integration of the Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) with the electric powertrain, while still maintaining comparable range capabilities and costs [12,13]
CO2 emissions reduction in real world driving conditions strongly depends on the performance of their Energy Management System (EMS) [14,15,16] and on its capability to maximize the efficiency of the powertrain in real life as well as in the chassis dyno tests, which are prescribed for Type Approval (TA)

Summary

Introduction

In particular the European Union (EU) has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transport by 60% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels [1] To meet these challenging CO2 targets, vehicle manufacturers, while relentlessly continuing the research for more efficient powertrains based on Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs), have been developing new technologies such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Fuel Cells Vehicles (FCEVs), which can both provide the benefits of zero tail pipe emissions. The effective potential of HEVs in terms of CO2 emissions reduction in real world driving conditions strongly depends on the performance of their Energy Management System (EMS) [14,15,16] and on its capability to maximize the efficiency of the powertrain in real life as well as in the chassis dyno tests, which are prescribed for Type Approval (TA)

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