Report on VECTO Technology Simulation Capabilities and Future Outlook

The European Commission is developing the Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool (VECTO) for Heavy Duty Vehicle CO2 certification purposes. VECTO is a vehicle simulation tool tailored to estimate CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles of different categories, sizes and technologies. Further development and optimization of VECTO and the CO2 certification methodology requires assessing their capacity to properly simulate specific vehicle technologies and gathering additional feedback on the possibility to capture future technologies which are expected to be deployed on heavy-duty vehicles in the years to come. In order to investigate the VECTO capabilities and performance a dedicated questionnaire was formulated and distributed to various stakeholders. The technologies under investigation were previously identified through a literature review. The feedback received clearly pointed out the technologies that can be properly simulated by VECTO, which constituted an important part of the initial technology list, pointing out that VECTO and the accompanying certification methodology have reached a good level of maturity. The responses provided also some initial feedback on the implementation approach for the technologies which are not properly captured at the moment. The latter were separated into three groups based on the type of work that is required for including them in the certification methodology which could relate either to the development of the VECTO software or further expansion-specialization of CO2 certification methodology or a combination of the two. The current report presents the findings of the survey and outlines possible future steps for the further development of VECTO software and the accompanying certification methodologyJRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor

Review of in use factors affecting the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of passenger cars

This report primarily investigates the factors that affect fuel consumption and CO2 emissions which are not accounted for in the current type approval test and result in a shortfall between type approval and real-world fuel consumption or the corresponding CO2 emission values. A comprehensive literature review is carried out, in which we examine the available information and aim to provide qualitative and quantitative data. Where information is e insufficient, we point out the gap in knowledge. In addition, we have examined by means of simulation the significance of several factors that may change during every-day operation and may depend either on the driver or on external conditions. Several factors were identified affecting the in-use fuel consumption and CO2 emissions resulting in a shortfall between the type approval and real-world values. These include the increased electrical power load (e.g. A/C, steering assist), aerodynamic alterations (roof box, aerofoils), ambient conditions (temperature, wind, rain and altitude), driving behavior (aggressive driving, driver training), vehicle condition (lubrication, tyre condition), increased vehicle mass (passengers, additional equipment), road conditions (road surface, traffic conditions). They are complemented by so-called "flexibilities" associated with the existing NEDC-based type approval procedure. The combined effect of the different factors affecting CO2 emissions,, although not fully cumulative, can result in shortfall values ranging between 25% and 35%, based on information collected, the calculations run and the assumptions adopted in this study. These figures are in line with other literature sources where shortfall ranges from 20% up to 50% compared to the official certification value are reported. The per-passenger CO2 performance significantly improves when the occupancy rate is considered, hence a separate analysis was performed to this end. It can be concluded that due to the increase complexity of modern vehicles, the increasing number of passenger comfort systems and the great variety of possible operating conditions, it is difficult to capture the real-world fuel consumption with an exhaustive accuracy. It is expected that the introduction of the new test protocol (WLTP) will be a step forward in closing this shortfall. A separate analysis on the expected WLTP impact on CO2 is presented. It cannot be overlooked that driver behavior is an important element and therefore additional measures, in particular proper driver training and information, can help to reduce the discrepancy observed by drivers between their own in-use CO2 emissions from passenger cars compared to the test results.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

Assessment of the Heavy-Duty Natural Gas technology

Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDV) powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are seen as a possible option for curbing CO2 emissions, fuel consumption and operating costs of goods transport. CNG engines have been employed in public use HDVs as an alternative to diesel engines due to their environmental benefits, and particularly due to lower particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. In the framework of the current project, an advanced newly designed CNG prototype engine developed as part of the 7th Framework Programme research project “CO2 Reduction for long distance transport” (CO2RE), is benchmarked against its parent Euro V compliant CNG engine (reference) in order to quantify the improvement in terms of real-world emissions. Results indicated a significant reduction in CO2 emissions with the prototype CNG engine both at low and high loads, which varied between 5.0-8.4%. The highest CO2 reduction was observed during on-road testing, with the corresponding reduction at low loads being more pronounced compared to high loads. Furthermore, reductions of NOx and CO emissions were observed under all testing conditions. On the other hand, hydrocarbon and methane emissions were increased with the introduction of the Prototype engine.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor

Assessment of the monitoring methodology for CO₂ emissions from heavy duty vehicles: Pilot phase test-campaign report and analysis of the ex-post verification options

Following a request from DG-Clima and DG-GROW, JRC launched a test-campaign in order to investigate the validity, accuracy and plausibility of the methodology proposed for the verification of the certified CO2 emissions from Heavy Duty Vehicles (aka ex-post verification methodology). In addition scope of the test campaign was to demonstrate the representativeness of the CO2 emissions calculations made by the official simulator (VECTO) by comparing against the actual performance of vehicles. Experiments were conducted on four Euro VI trucks, both on the chassis dyno and on the road with the aim of understanding the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches proposed. Two main verification approaches were investigated, steady state measurements in chassis-dyno / controlled conditions, and measurements under transient conditions on chassis-dyno and actual on-road operating conditions. The official simulation software (VECTO) was used for simulating the operation of vehicles under the different test conditions. The key conclusion of the test campaign is that an ex-post verification method which is based on transient, on-road tests is possible for trucks and comes with the advantage that it could potentially cover also other vehicle types which are difficult to be validated under steady state conditions in a laboratory or on a test track under controlled conditions. However, there is a clear need to work on the details of the test protocol to be finally implemented, define boundary conditions for transient tests on road, and establish the necessary acceptance and rejection margins for any such validation. Finally, additional testing is necessary in order to calculate accurately any systematic deviation between the officially reported, simulated, CO2 values and those actually occurring in reality. VECTO results should be periodically controlled and assessed in order to make sure that its CO2 estimates remain representative and minimize the possibility that discrepancies will occur in the future between the officially reported and actually experienced fuel consumption.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

fUel-SAVing trip plannEr (U-SAVE): a product of the JRC PoC Instrument: Final report

Available tools for trip planning mostly rely on travel time and travel distance. Fuel costs, when taken into account, are based on simplified fuel consumption models and are usually independent from vehicle type and technology. Building on the work carried out by the Sustainable Transport Unit of the Joint Research Centre, European Commission, in developing (a.) CO2MPAS, the official tool supporting the WLTP/NEDC Correlation Exercise and allowing the back-translation of a WLTP test to the equivalent NEDC CO2 emission value during the type approval, and (b.) Green Driving, an interactive web-based tool allowing the estimation of fuel costs and CO2 emissions of individual car journeys on the basis of variables such as car segment, engine power, fuel type and driving style, the present project aimed at developing and proving the concept of a routing machine to be used when fuel consumption minimization is considered. Throughout the project a stand-alone off-board trip planner has been developed, the U-SAVE Desktop Version, while a smartphone application, the U-SAVE Navigation Application, is currently under the last development phase, and shall be used once completed as a low cost in-board navigation system. The tool has been extensively validated internally demonstrating both its capability to accurately estimate fuel and energy consumption via alternative trip options, and its capacity to provide a more efficient route when different from the shortest and/or fastest options. An open-access version of the tool is expected to become a reference instrument for private citizens who are concerned about their fuel consumption and a more efficient use of their vehicles, while a premium API-based commercial version of the tool can operate as a viable and scalable business model targeting, among others, established navigation software providers who want to extend their offering by providing an alternative route option to their clients, mainly private companies managing fleets of light-duty vehicles, for whom saving fuel from the daily vehicle operations is of crucial financial importance.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

CO2 emissions of the European heavy-duty vehicle fleet

CO2 emissions reduction targets for the years 2025 and 2030 have been introduced for new heavy-duty vehicles that are being sold in the EU. The basis for the reduction is the fleet-average CO2 emissions of newly registered heavy-duty vehicles in the period from July 1st 2019 to June 30th 2020. In this report an overview is provided of the CO2 emissions and the main characteristics of the European heavy-duty vehicle fleet during this reference period. It was found that the vehicle in groups 5 and 10 and in the long haul subgroups have the lowest specific CO2 emissions, in g/t.km. Vehicles that were simulated with a standard value for a component in the CO2 certification, have in general higher CO2 emissions compared to vehicles that were simulated with only measured components. It was investigated whether this increases the reference CO2 emissions. The impact of components with standard values on the reference CO2 emissions was quantified by replacing these components in vehicles with standard values by representative components and recalculating the vehicle’s CO2 emissions and the fleet’s reference CO2 emissions. The use of standard values for certain components instead of measured component data in the simulation tool increases the reference CO2 emissions between 0.4% and 1%.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor

Collection of fleet-wide fuel and energy consumption data from road vehicles

The JRC has been researching the technical challenges and solutions pertinent to the task of collecting fleet-wide On Board Fuel Consumption Measurement (OBFCM) data through direct data transfer from vehicles to the Commission. In the scope of this research work a technical solution framework was developed which conceptualizes a direct Over-The-Air (OTA) data transfer approach that is secure, privacy-preserving, tamper-resistant, scalable and future-proof.The report investigates the technical requirements regarding off-board, vehicle-to-cloud communication. The scope of this report is to introduce a solution architecture for the direct transfer of OBFCM data from vehicles to the EC and to demonstrate its feasibility by presenting a complete Proof-of-Concept implementation of this architecture built with open standards, modern web technologies and widely adopted cloud infrastructure services.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor

Future CO2 reducing technologies in VECTO

The software tool VECTO is used to determine the energy demand, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of new heavy-duty vehicles. The tool takes into account the relevant vehicle component technologies that affect fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and should be updated when new relevant technologies are brought to the market. This work presents the results of a survey investigating the capability of VECTO to simulate new vehicle technologies, along with CO2 reduction potential and the expected penetration rate in the market of these technologies. An in-depth analysis of these new technologies is presented in this work. Many of the technologies demonstrating high potential in reducing CO2 and market uptake in the near future (e.g. aero devices for trailers and bodies and hybrid electric powertrains) are currently being implemented in VECTO. The next steps can include zero-emission vehicles, such as fuel cell vehicles, and technologies that could be easily implemented.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor

Sampling approaches for road vehicle fuel consumption monitoring

EU Regulations introduced in 2019 for light- and heavy- duty vehicles contain provisions requiring the European Commission to set up a mechanism to monitor the real-world representativeness of the fuel consumption determined during the type-approval tests. This study proposes a sampling based approach to collect these data. Two probability-sampling methods (simple random sampling and stratified sampling) and one non-probability sampling method (quota sampling) are discussed. We use data from three user-based datasets (IFPEN, Travelcard and Spritmonitor) and the 2018 European Environment Agency CO2 monitoring dataset. All three user-based datasets provide fairly good representations of their respective countries’ sub-fleets and to a lesser extent the whole fleet. The standard deviation of the fuel consumption gap was consistently found to be approximately 20%. For a population of 15 million vehicles, using simple random sampling, and the standard deviation of the fuel consumption set at 20%, a sample of fewer than 3000 vehicles is required for estimating the average gap with a confidence level of 99% and sampling error less than 1%. Multivariate stratification with three stratification variables (vehicle manufacturer, fuel type and engine rated power) was the optimal combination, reducing the sample size by around 28% compared to simple random sample. Requiring strata specific estimators resulted to an increase of the sample size, as the number of stratification variables increased. Non-sampling errors, such as inaccuracy of On-Board Fuel and/or energy Consumption Monitor (OBFCM) device measurements, are expected to lead to an increase of the required sample size by at least 20%. Samples using quota sampling were taken and had a sampling error less than 3.5%.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor

Proceedings of the 24th International Transport and Air Pollution (TAP) Conference

The 24th Transport and Air Pollution (TAP) conference collected the important research results in transport emissions and efficiency research. The papers presented focus on existing and future road vehicle EURO emission standards, CO2 emissions targets, and the corresponding real-world emissions of regulated and non-regulated pollutants from all transport modes. The main topic are options for emission reduction through improved vehicle and engine technology, traffic management and behavioural change. Specific topics include electrification of transport, clean maritime shipping, and renewable fuels and decarbonisation of energy supply. The impact of emissions is analysed using improved air quality models and novel measurement systems and methods. The publication is aimed at researchers, engineers and policy makers, and anyone interested in developing a more efficient and cleaner transport system.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable Transpor