Evaluation of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles in Real-World Conditions by Simulation

Assessing the real-world energy performance and emissions of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEVs) is complex: it depends on their usage (e.g. trip distance and recharging behavior), and results in different combinations of use of their thermal and electric propulsion. In this study, vehicle simulators were calibrated using experimental data (in-lab and on-road), allowing a comprehensive range of uses forecasted over a wide Design of Experiments, spanning vehicle configurations, battery capacity, outside temperature and driving profiles. These results were synthetized through an analytical method, and a statistical method of weighting each simulated use-case according to their real-world probability was proposed, based on statistics of daily distance travelled and temperature. The assessment was made for a wide range of battery sizing and recharging frequency, enabling the determination of the average real-world energy performance (share of electric drive, fuel and electricity consumptions) and CO₂ emissions of PHEVs according to these two key parameters.