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The experimental measurement of the energy consumption and efficiency of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are key topics to determine their usability and performance in real-world conditions. This paper aims to present the results of a test campaign carried out on a BEV, representative of the most common technology available today on the market. The vehicle is a 5-seat car, equipped with an 80 kW synchronous electric motor powered by a 24 kWh Li-Ion battery. The description and discussion of the experimental results is split into 2 parts: Part 1 focuses on laboratory tests, whereas Part 2 focuses on the on-road tests. As far as on-road tests are concerned, the vehicle has been tested over three different on-road routes, ranging from 60 to 90 km each, with a driving time ranging from approximately one and half to two and half hours.

The experimental measurement of the energy consumption and efficiency of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are key topics to determine their usability and performance in real-world conditions. This paper aims to present the results of a test campaign carried out on a BEV, representative of the most common technology available today on the market. The vehicle is a 5-seat car, equipped with an 80 kW synchronous electric motor powered by a 24 kWh Li-Ion battery. The description and discussion of the experimental results is split into 2 parts: Part 1 focuses on laboratory tests, whereas Part 2 focuses on the on-road tests. As far as the laboratory tests are concerned, the vehicle has been tested over three different driving cycles (i.e. NEDC, WLTC and WMTC) at two different ambient temperatures (namely +25 °C and −7 °C), with and without the use of the cabin heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system.

A test programme designed to investigate the influence of gasoline vapour pressure and ethanol content on evaporative emissions from modern passenger cars was carried out by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission together with CONCAWE and EUCAR. Seven gasoline passenger cars representative of current EURO 3/4 emissions technology were tested for evaporative emissions with ten different test fuels. The test fuel matrix comprised 60 and 70 kPa hydrocarbon base fuels with 5 and 10% ethanol splash blends and 5 and 10% ethanol matched volatility blends. The test protocol was based on the European homologation test procedure. Although the test protocol turned out to have a significant influence on the results, the programme provided valuable information and it was possible to draw several clear conclusions.

Fuel consumption is already one of the parameters taken into account for the final ranking of some competitions organized by the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA). Pollutant emissions, such as CO, HC and NOx, could also be taken into consideration in the near future. In occasion of a competition organized by the FIA in the framework of the “Alternative Energies Cup” championship, several vehicles were equipped for demonstration and scientific purpose with portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) in order to measure the gaseous emissions during the competition. The competition took place at the Autodromo Nazionale of Monza on the same track used for the Formula 1 Grand Prix as well. For this competition the track was divided into three sections simulating respectively the typical speeds and driving patterns on urban roads, on extra-urban roads and on motorways.

Gas-operated vehicles powered by natural gas (NG) or other gaseous fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are seen as a possible option for curbing CO₂ emissions, fuel consumption and operating costs of goods and passenger transport. Initiatives have been adopted by various public organizations in Europe and abroad in order to introduce gas-fueled vehicles in their fleets or use retrofit fueling systems in existing ones. In this study a retrofit dual fuel (diesel-gas) fuelling system was investigated as a potential candidate technology for city bus fleets. The system is marketed under the commercial name d-gid. It is a platform developed by the company Ecomotive Solutions for the control and management of a diesel engine fuelled with a mixture of gaseous fuels. In order to assess its environmental and cost effectiveness the system was tested on a Volvo city bus. The tests were performed on an HDV chassis dyno under various driving conditions.

The increasing urbanization level of many countries around the globe has led to a rapid increase of mobility demand in cities. Although public transport may play an important role, there are still many people relying on private vehicles, and, especially in urban areas, motorcycles and scooters can combine handling and flexibility with lower cost of operation compared to passenger cars. However, in spite of their lower fuel demand, they might significantly contribute to air pollution, lagging behind cars in terms of emission performances. The aim of this paper is to provide the scientific community with the results of an exploratory test campaign on four different motorcycles, converted from gasoline to CNG by means of an after-market conversion kit. A fifth motorcycle, similarly converted from gasoline to LPG, was also tested. These vehicles are powered by 4-strokes engines with a displacement ranging from 50 to 250 cm3 and a power ranging from 3.0 to 16.5 kW.

Energy efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) and the representativeness of different driving cycles are important aspects to address EVs performance in real-world driving conditions. This paper presents the results of an explorative tests campaign carried out at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission to investigate the impact of different driving cycles on the energy consumption of an electric vehicle available on the market. The vehicle is a battery electric city-car which has been tested over the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), the current version of the World-wide harmonized Light vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC) and the World-wide Motorcycle emission Test Cycle (WMTC). The tests are performed at different ambient temperatures (namely +23 °C and −7 °C) with and without the use of the Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system (in cooling and heating mode, respectively).