Real-world fuel consumption and CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions by driving conditions for light-duty passenger vehicles in China

The increasing discrepancy between on-road and type-approval fuel consumption for LDPVs (light-duty passenger vehicles) has attracted tremendous attention. We measured on-road emissions for 60 LDPVs in three China's cities and calculated their fuel consumption and CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. We further evaluated the impacts of variations in area-averaged speed on relative fuel consumption of gasoline LDPVs for the UAB (urban area of Beijing). On-road fuel consumption under the average driving pattern is 10 ± 2% higher than that normalized to the NEDC (new European driving cycle) cycle for all tested vehicles, and the on-road NEDC-normalized fuel consumption is higher by 30 ± 12% compared to type-approval values for gasoline vehicles. We observed very strong correlations between relative fuel consumption and average speed. Traffic control applied to LDPVs driving within the UAB during weekdays can substantially reduce total fleet fuel consumption by 23 ± 5% during restriction hours by limiting vehicle use and improving driving conditions. Our results confirmed that a new cycle for the type approval test for LDPVs with more real-world driving features is of great necessity. Furthermore, enhanced traffic control measures could play an important role in mitigating real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for LDPVs in China.