Evaluation of alternative drive systems based on driving patterns comparing Germany, China and Malaysia

Abstract

Requirements to mobility are changing worldwide due to a focus on environment and resource protection and a simultaneous increase of mobility needs. Accordingly, the focus in automotive development shifts to the use of alternative energies for vehicle propulsions in order to reduce emissions. The amount of emission reduction by using alternative drive systems depends on marginal conditions, such as the energy mix structure, climate conditions and the vehicle’s usage profile. The individual usage profile contains characteristic values such as the number of trips, trip duration and length, as well as the velocity distribution. These characteristic data are individual for each user and differ from the values derived through test cycles such as e.g. the NEDC or the JC08. Accordingly, for the current market analysis and future trends prediction, different user profiles have to be considered and analysed. Within this paper, real world driving data recorded within the German project RuhrautoE will be analysed. The focus lies on evaluation criteria that differentiate between countries due to local framework conditions. In this context, the costs and emissions of different propulsion systems are compared between Germany and China. Afterwards an outlook on Malaysia is given for these criteria. Hitherto, such an approach is rarely considered for Malaysia. Conventional and alternative fuel vehicles as well as electrified vehicles (EV) are compared within this paper. All car models considered are based on real vehicle series to ensure a valid common basis. As expected, the consumptions of all analysed propulsion systems are higher for real driving data than for the NEDC. Then the consumption costs of the electric vehicle are the lowest in Germany and China, but not in Malaysia, where a gas driven vehicle (LPG) achieves the best results. Though, while electric cars can reduce well-to-wheel emissions by 82 % in Germany, there is no reduction possible in China as long as the fossil proportion during  the generation of electricity is not reduced. However, EV can reduce the local emission in high traffic areas. According to our estimation, EV are not profitable in all considered countries due to the Total Cost of Ownership.