Impact of drivers on real-driving fuel consumption and emissions performance

Yuhan Huang; Elvin C Y Ng; John L Zhou; Nic C Surawski; Xingcai Lu; Bo Du; Hugh Forehead; Pascal Perez; Edward F C Chan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149297

Impact of drivers on real-driving fuel consumption and emissions performance

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Dec 1:798:149297. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149297. Epub 2021 Jul 27.

Authors

Yuhan Huang¹, Elvin C Y Ng², John L Zhou³, Nic C Surawski⁴, Xingcai Lu⁵, Bo Du⁶, Hugh Forehead⁶, Pascal Perez⁶, Edward F C Chan⁷

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Green Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: yuhan.huang@uts.edu.au.
² Centre for Green Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; Jockey Club Heavy Vehicle Emissions Testing and Research Centre, Vocational Training Council, Hong Kong, China.
³ Centre for Green Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: junliang.zhou@uts.edu.au.
⁴ Centre for Green Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Power Machinery and Engineering of M.O.E., Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁶ SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
⁷ Centre for Green Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; Faculty of Science and Technology, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 34332382
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149297

Abstract

Eco-driving has attracted great attention as a cost-effective and immediate measure to reduce fuel consumption significantly. Understanding the impact of driver behaviour on real driving emissions (RDE) is of great importance for developing effective eco-driving devices and training programs. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the performance of different drivers using a portable emission measurement system. In total, 30 drivers, including 15 novice and 15 experienced drivers, were recruited to drive the same diesel vehicle on the same route, to minimise the effect of uncontrollable real-world factors on the performance evaluation. The results show that novice drivers are less skilled or more aggressive than experienced drivers in using the accelerator pedal, leading to higher vehicle and engine speeds. As a result, fuel consumption rates of novice drivers vary in a slightly greater range than those of experienced drivers, with a marginally higher (2%) mean fuel consumption. Regarding pollutant emissions, CO and THC emissions of all drivers are well below the standard limits, while NO_x and PM emissions of some drivers significantly exceed the limits. Compared with experienced drivers, novice drivers produce 17% and 29% higher mean NO_x and PM emissions, respectively. Overall, the experimental results reject the hypothesis that driver experience has significant impacts on fuel consumption performance. The real differences lie in the individual drivers, as the worst performing drivers have significantly higher fuel consumption rates than other drivers, for both novice and experienced drivers. The findings suggest that adopting eco-driving skills could deliver significant reductions in fuel consumption and emissions simultaneously for the worst performing drivers, regardless of driving experience.

Keywords: Diesel vehicle; Driver behaviour; Fuel consumption; Gaseous and particulate emissions; Portable emission measurement system; Real driving emissions.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Automobile Driving*
Environmental Pollutants*
Gasoline
Protective Devices
Vehicle Emissions / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Environmental Pollutants
Gasoline
Vehicle Emissions