Aggregate Fuel Consumption Model of Light-Duty Vehicles for Evaluating Effectiveness of Traffic Management Strategies on Fuels

Abstract

The primary objective of this research is to develop a practical model for evaluating the effects of traffic management on fuel efficiency. The relationships between the real-world driving activities, the vehicle specific power, and the corresponding fuel consumptions are analyzed based on the data of 26 gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas-fueled light-duty vehicles (LDVs). Then, an indicator for evaluating the level of fuel consumption is designed by dividing the normalized fuel consumption by the fuel use in the most economic scenario. An aggregate model is developed following the design of the indicator that features minimal input requirement and meaningful output for LDVs. In the case studies, the proposed model is applied to estimating and comparing the fuel efficiency of several driving cycles, evaluating the fuel efficiency improvement resulting from the electronic toll collection system, and developing temporal variations of fuel efficiency for a road in Beijing by using floating car data. Finally, the merits of the proposed model are discussed, and the limitations and recommendations are provided for further model improvement.