Technical Paper
Hybrid Options for Light-Duty Vehicles
1999-08-17
1999-01-2929
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) offer great promise in improving fuel economy. In this paper, we analyze why, how, and by how much vehicle hybridization can reduce energy consumption and improve fuel economy. Our analysis focuses on efficiency gains associated solely with vehicle hybridization. We do not consider such other measures as vehicle weight reduction or air- and tire-resistance reduction, because such measures would also benefit conventional technology vehicles. The analysis starts with understanding the energy inefficiencies of light-duty vehicles associated with different operation modes in U.S. and Japanese urban and highway driving cycles, with the corresponding energy-saving potentials.