Comparative measurements of the energy consumption of 51 electric, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles

Journal article

This paper presents the measured energy consumption of a range of " fuel efficient" vehicles over a 57 mile urban/extra-urban route. The results show that on average the electric vehicles used the least amount of energy (0.62MJ/km average), followed by the hybrid vehicles (1.14 MJ/km), and internal combustion engine vehicles (1.68 MJ/km). Estimates of CO2 emissions finds that hybrids gave the lowest CO2 emissions, with around half of the vehicles emitting less than 70gCO2/km. The most efficient diesel combustion engine vehicles emitted about 80gCO2/km but the majority exceeded 110gCO2/km. The majority of electric vehicles emitted 70-110gCO2/km assuming a UK grid average emissions factor of 542 g CO2/km. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Authors: Howey, D; Martinez-Botas, R; Cussons, B; Lytton, L

• Journal: Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 459-464
• Publication date: 2011-08-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2011.04.001
• ISSN: 1361-9209
• Language: English
• Keywords: Vehicle energy consumption; Vehicle CO2 emissions; Hybrid vehicle; Vehicle fuel efficiency; Electric vehicle