Eco-driving by replicating best driving practices

ABSTRACT

Some transit companies have reduced up to 25% of their fuel consumption by training their drivers on eco-driving. We propose to further reduce fuel consumption by using best driving practices, which consist of guiding drivers on the recommended ranges of vehicle speed and engine RPM that lead to minimum fuel consumptions. These recommendations are obtained by monitoring the engine operational parameters used by drivers who have shown the lowest fuel consumption while driving vehicles of similar technology and running on the same section of the road. To demonstrate the applicability of this alternative, we monitored a fleet of 15 transit buses of recent technology serving a ∼72-km long route of general characteristics during eight months of normal operation. For each kilometer, trips with the lowest fuel consumption were selected, and their interquartile ranges of RPM and speed were obtained. Then, a well-trained driver in eco-driving traveled over the same road with same type of buses, using these recommended ranges. Using his eco-driving training, he obtained a 0.5% reduction in fuel consumption with respect to the average of the population, and by using the best driving practices, his savings increased up to 10.1%. These savings were linked to an increase in the average energy efficiency of the engine from 27.6% to 28.9%, which demonstrates that when drivers use these best driving practices, they tend to operate the engine under conditions closer to the load—RPM engine area of engine highest efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Driving patterns
• eco-driving
• engine green area
• engine green band
• fuel economy
• vehicle fuel consumption

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the contribution of Mr. Pedro Gómez, Eng. Arcelia Hernández, and Fernando Chanocua from Flecha Roja, Eng. Yojanan Cornejo and Vicente García from DIDCOM, and MSc. Gustavo Alvarez and Eng. Pablo A. Marin from the Automotive Engineering Research Center — CIMA of Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Funding

This study was financed by the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), Flecha Roja, DIDCOM, and Tecnológico de Monterrey.