Abstract
Standard drive cycles are considered not to be representative of actual driving conditions, since fuel consumption and pollutant emissions resulting from performing these cycles are systematically underestimated compared to real world results. Furthermore, with the development and commercialization of alternative vehicle technologies (such as electric, and hybrid vehicles), the development of regional or technology specific drive cycles should be pursued in order to provide the consumer with more accurate and informative data regarding energy use, emissions and autonomy. In this sense, a methodology to generate test cycles based on real-world driving data (Test Cycle Generating Tool - TCGT) was developed and applied to conventional and alternative vehicle technologies. In order to ensure that the drive cycles generated are compatible with current homologation procedures, this methodology uses segments of existing drive cycles. Furthermore, this tool allows the user to limit the maximum power for the generated cycle thus allowing the testing of low powered vehicles still based on real-world driving cycles. The test cycles generated with the presented method closely match the original drive cycles for emissions and energy use with deviations lower than 5% for energy use and 10% for pollutant emissions, considering driving cycles ranging from low power (up to 6 kW/ton) to highway driving and seven vehicle technologies, including conventional spark-ignition and compression-ignition, hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles.
KEYWORDS – Test cycle; conventional vehicles; alternative vehicle technologies; real-world drive cycles