A comparative study of internal combustion engine and range extended electric vehicles for private passenger usage

The transportation sector contributes to 14% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreements in place such as The Kyoto Protocol and The Paris Agreement to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission have further targets in place to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars. The 2015 target required that new vehicles registered in the EU will not emit more than 130gCO2/km with the target for 2020 reducing to 95gCO2/km. Analysis of the conventional internal combustion engine and further developing upon technologies which were first introduced in fully electric and hybrid electric vehicles has developed a new automotive electric industry with further research into low carbon vehicles. However, even with this research and the technological advancements, the transportation sector is still heavily dependent on oil due to the slow uptake of alternatively fuelled vehicles. A key element for consumer belief in the new technologies is accurate information which can be provided by comparative studies of the various possibilities based on drive cycle analysis. The aim of this research is to undertake a comparative study of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions performance of an internal combustion engine vehicle and a range extended electric vehicle operating under different drive cycles. It uses the United Kingdom as a case study. The key findings of this work to date are as follows: (1) Euro standards and Climate Change Act targets provide major challenges for automotive manufactures with requiring a 37% decrease in CO2 emissions by 2020. (2) Approximately only 15% of the energy provided to internal combustion engines vehicles is successfully converted into useful energy. Losses occur due to imperfect combustion, friction losses and non-ideal processes. (3) Factors relating to vehicle energy consumption in a range extended electric vehicle include powertrain management, drivers’ behaviours, drive cycle and charging frequency. (3) Range anxiety is a major factor which contributes to the slow uptake of electric vehicles, however the average commuter distance within the UK being 20miles, all range extended electric vehicles can achieve this round trip without requiring to plug into a power source.