Assessing current vehicle performance and simulating the performance of hydrogen and hybrid cars

A measure of the efficiency in transforming energy input into transport work is defined and applied to road vehicles as well as to sea, air and rail vehicles for passenger or freight transportation. The insight obtained with this measure is compared with the results of applying the conventional measure of kilometres per unit of energy for current fleets of vehicles. Then, simulation methods are used to assess the performance of fuel cell vehicles, electric vehicles and hybrids between the two. The latter are found to provide an optimum performance for a small, efficient passenger car.