Abstract
Today, environmental protection and energy utilization are becoming increasingly important. Studies showed that there is no single solution to meet these challenges associated with energy utilization and environment protection to achieve sustainability. In order to meet these challenges, energy efficiency in all segments of the energy sector is to be achieved. Towards this end, a lot of improvement in automobile technology has been accomplished over decades in producing vehicles that are more efficient and also meet higher customer performance requirements. Novel propulsion system technologies and advanced concepts are continuously being explored and their potential benefits are assessed to address energy and environmental related challenges. This paper presents an analytical study of various propulsion system concepts ranging from mild to strong hybrid electric systems to fuel cell systems and demonstrates that the potential of improving fuel consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) exists. Advanced propulsion system concepts under investigation are incorporated into a current production vehicle math model and are analyzed using an in-house vehicle simulation software package. Potential benefits of the advanced concepts are presented relative to the state-of-the-art conventional vehicles. Moreover, understanding of Well-to-Tank (WTT) and Tank-to- Wheels (TTW) pathways helps to optimize vehicle-fuel combinations at various conditions in different regions to evaluate the environmental performance of advanced propulsion system technologies. In addition to presenting the TTW predictions based on empirical models and state-ofthe- art component characteristics, the benefits of these technologies are evaluated in the larger scope of a Well-to-Wheels (WTW) analysis which is based on the WTT model for China. The energy consumption and GHGs predictions from the WTT and TTW models are integrated into WTW results using the GREET model developed at the Center of Transportation Research at the Argonne National Laboratory.
Keywords: Fuel economy, Fuel consumption, Advanced Propulsion Systems, Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Energy Management Optimization, Well-to-Wheels, Life Cycle Analysis