The analysis of traffic variables for EV's driving efficiency in urban traffic condition

Abstract

This paper presents the influential factors on the driving efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) under different urban traffic conditions. By formulating the energy consumption and recharge model based on EV's vehicle dynamics, a simulation is then carried out to observe the effects of traffic variables on EV driving efficiency. EV driving efficiency maps are plotted from different traffic conditions, and traffic variables that includes headways, vehicle speeds and acceleration are identified to have significant effects on EV driving efficiency. The outcome also showed that the link speed, which is widely used as a predictor for EV efficiency, has limitations in estimating the efficiency as it spatiotemporally aggregates the individual vehicle driving conditions. This paper found that, based on the efficiency plots, the quantitative relationship between EV driving efficiency and other traffic characteristic variables, and suggested the effective speed range as a new indicator for EV driving energy efficiency. This paper provides a framework that can be used to estimate the EV efficiency under various traffic conditions and to reduce energy consumption during trips in their corresponding roadway networks.