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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.

The introduction of sulphur-free fuels will enable advanced engine and exhaust after-treatment technologies to meet increasingly stringent exhaust emissions regulations. As these cleaner fuels and vehicles are introduced, the potential for further improvements in air quality through changes to fuel properties can be expected to diminish. Nevertheless, CONCAWE has continued to update knowledge by evaluating fuel effects on emissions from new engine/vehicle technologies as they approach the market. In this work, carried out as part of CONCAWE's contribution to the EU “PARTICULATES” consortium [1], two advanced light-duty diesel vehicles and three heavy-duty diesel engines covering Euro-3 to Euro-5 technologies, were tested. The fuels tested covered a range of sulphur content and compared conventional fuels with extreme fuel compositions such as Swedish Class 1 and Fischer Tropsch diesel fuels.

A joint test programme has been carried out by CONCAWE and GFC to evaluate the impact of gasoline volatility and ethanol on the driveability performance of modern European vehicles. Eight vehicles, three with DISI fuel systems and five with MPI, were tested for hot driveability performance. After screening tests, a subset of four vehicles was selected and tested for cold driveability. The latest test procedures developed by GFC were used for both hot (20, 30 and 40°C) and cold (+5 and -10°C: representative of moderate winter conditions) weather testing on climate controlled chassis dynamometers. A matrix of four hydrocarbon test fuels at two levels of DVPE and E70 was blended for the hot weather testing, and three fuels with varying E100 but essentially parallel distillation curves for the cold weather tests. For each hydrocarbon fuel, two other fuels containing 10% ethanol were made, one splash blend and one with matched volatility.

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.

This paper presents an overview of the results on heavy duty engines collected in the “PARTICULATES” project, which aimed at the characterization of exhaust particle emissions from road vehicles. The same exhaust gas sampling and measurement system as employed for the measurements on light duty vehicles [1] was used. Measurements were made in three labs to evaluate a wide range of particulate properties with a range of heavy duty engines and fuels. The measured properties included particle number, with focus separately on nucleation mode and solid particles, particle active surface and total mass. The sample consisted of 10 engines, ranging from Euro-I to prototype Euro-V technologies. The same core diesel fuels were used as in the light duty programme, mainly differentiated with respect to their sulphur content. Additional fuels were tested by some partners to extend the knowledge base.

The influence of gasoline quality on exhaust emissions has been evaluated using four modern European gasoline cars with advanced features designed to improve fuel economy and CO2 emissions, including stoichiometric direct injection, lean direct injection and MPI with variable valve actuation. Fuel effects studied included sulphur content, evaluated over a range from 4 to 148 mg/kg, and other gasoline properties, including aromatics content, olefins content, volatility and final boiling point (FBP). All four cars achieved very low emissions levels, with some clear differences between the vehicle technologies. Even at these low emissions levels, all four cars showed very little short-term sensitivity to gasoline sulphur content. The measured effects of the other gasoline properties were small and often conflicting, with differing directional responses for different vehicles and emissions.

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).