Experimental investigation of road grade and stop/start on vehicle emissions and fuel consumption

Typical drive cycles such as the New European drive Cycle are typically simulating driving condition on flat roads. However it is well know that some countries (such as Malta) have quite a hilly nature and higher fuel consumption is a natural consequence. Drive cycles from the most used Maltese roads was acquired and used in the emulation on the chassis dynamometer. Experimental tests supported by mechatronic solutions had to be implemented. The vehicle road load was obtained through driving on the best available flat and straight road (a decommissioned aircraft runway). Ancillary requirements, such as sniffing RPM from the CAN bus and acquiring a large number of parameters from the OBD are also discussed. Subsequently, an experimental investigation on two Dacia Sandero Stepway of Euro V and Euro VI configurations was undertaken. Testing on the chassis dynometer showed that uphill driving has a huge impact on fuel consumption and emissions. It was also determined that the AdBlue NOx abatement system was extremely effective to curtail emissions. Stop/Start feature was found to make an important effect on fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions but a negligible effect on NOx emissions if the engine is equipped with the AdBlue system.