This study introduces the technology of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and states their benefits in terms of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. The economic and environmental metrics are the main concerned perspectives when comparing the hybrid electric vehicles to the equivalent conventional vehicle. The speed profile was created by assembling many real-world mini-trips that were recorded by the instrumented vehicles using an on-board diagnose (OBD) data logger. Those speed profiles represent the real-world driving cycles that being simulated to investigate fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. To perform the simulation process and to obtain all the involved performance predictions, advanced vehicle simulator (ADVISOR) is considered. In parallel, a MATLAB code is formulated to emulate the performance and fuel consumption of vehicles. For each case study, three-vehicle configurations (conventional, parallel hybrid, and series hybrid) were conducted under the associated real-world driving cycle as well as under the standard driving cycles. The results are analyzed to evaluate the achieved reduction in fuel consumption and emissions.
Considering fuel consumption predictions in city driving patterns, results showed that the best fuel reduction is achieved by series HEV under the driving conditions of Baghdad city. The simulation process predicted a reduction of 67.9% over the conventional vehicle, while the lowest reduction as 22.6% was achieved by parallel HEV under the driving conditions of Samawah city.
In the case of highway driving, simulation predictions revealed that the highest fuel consumption reduction is induced by series HEV on the highway of Baghdad-Najaf road with a reduction of 30.3%. The lowest reduction on the highway was predicted as 9.2% on the Baghdad-Kirkuk express road by a parallel hybrid powertrain, in contrast, the series hybrid powertrain was reported non-economic in comparison to the conventional one.
