Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for advanced vehicle technology options and fuel types

The automotive industry is witnessing a revolution with the advent of advanced vehicular technologies, smart vehicle options, and fuel alternatives. However, there is very limited research on consumer preferences for such advanced vehicular technologies. The deployment and penetration of advanced vehicular technologies in the marketplace, and planning for possible market adoption scenarios, calls for the collection and analysis of consumer preference data related to these emerging technologies. This study aims to address this need, offering a detailed analysis of consumer preference for alternative fuel types and technology options using data collected in stated choice experiments conducted on a sample of consumers from six metropolitan cities in South Korea. The results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in consumer preferences for various smart technology options such as wireless internet, vehicle connectivity, and voice command features, but relatively less heterogeneity in the preference for smart vehicle applications such as real-time traveler information on parking and traffic conditions.     

Transport energy consumption in mountainous roads. A comparative case study for internal combustion engines and electric vehicles in Andorra

This paper analyses transport energy consumption of conventional and electric vehicles in mountainous roads. A standard round trip in Andorra has been modelled in order to characterise vehicle dynamics in hilly regions. Two conventional diesel vehicles and their electric-equivalent models have been simulated and their performances have been compared. Six scenarios have been simulated to study the effects of factors such as orography, traffic congestion and driving style. The European fuel consumption and emissions test and Artemis urban driving cycles, representative of European driving cycles, have also been included in the comparative analysis. The results show that road grade has a major impact on fuel economy, although it affects consumption in different levels depending on the technology analysed. Electric vehicles are less affected by this factor as opposed to conventional vehicles, increasing the potential energy savings in a hypothetical electrification of the car fleet. However, electric vehicle range in mountainous terrains is lower compared to that estimated by manufacturers, a fact that could adversely affect a massive adoption of electric cars in the short term.     

车辆隔热壁K值计算中空气层的处理方法

对轨道交通车辆多层复合结构的隔热壁进行隔热性能理论计算与仿真计算的对比,对隔热壁内部空气层的隔热性能进行分析。结论为:在车辆多层复合结构的隔热壁K值计算中,当空气层厚度大于一定厚度时,流体自然对流对隔热壁的隔热性能影响较大。利用多项式密度(Polynomial Denisity)和Boussinesq模型两种算法,对所得结论进行了验证。     

落实中越运输议定书 实现公务车相互驶入

文章结合国内相关法规,对中越汽车运输的＂两议定书＂和＂国际汽车运输行车许可证制度＂中有关公务车辆的内容进行解读,并就如何早日实现中越两国间公务车辆相互驶入问题,提出了建立国际道路运输协调机制等八项举措。     

Investigation of tailpipe and evaporative emissions from China IV and Tier 2 passenger vehicles with different gasolines

The limited understanding of vehicular emissions in China, especially evaporative emissions, is one obstacle to establishing tighter standards. To evaluate tailpipe and evaporative emissions, two typical China IV vehicles and one Tier 2 vehicle with an onboard refuelling vapour recovery (ORVR) system were selected and tested. One of the China IV vehicles was fuelled with gasoline, E10 and M15, respectively, to investigate the effect of fuel properties on vehicular emissions. For each vehicle, cold-start tailpipe emission tests were conducted first, followed by an evaporation test. Based on the emission factors and real-world vehicle activity data, the annual tailpipe and evaporative hydrocarbon (HC) emissions of each vehicle were calculated and compared. The results show that E10 and M15 significantly reduced the tailpipe CO and particle number (PN) emissions but seriously aggravated the NOx emissions, especially for M15. The hot soak losses (HSLs) and diurnal breathing losses (DBLs) were slightly impacted by the fuel properties. The annual evaporative emissions with E10 and M15 were higher than that with gasoline. The ORVR system effectively controlled the evaporative emissions, especially for DBLs. Evaporative emissions from the China IV vehicles were 1.1–1.4 times the tailpipe HC emissions. Additionally, the evaporative emission factors of the China IV vehicles were almost 50% lower than the standard (2.0 g/test), whereas their annual evaporative emissions were almost 1.8–2.8 times higher than those from the Tier 2 vehicle. Therefore, controlling evaporative emissions currently remains a great need in China, and the ORVR might be a recommended evaporative control technology.     

Definition of wind blowers for vehicles testing at chassis-dyno facilities using a CFD approach

The need to increase measurement accuracy of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions in vehicles is forcing the market to develop chassis-dyno test cells that reproduce on-road conditions realistically.Air-cooling is key to vehicle performance. It is therefore critical that the design of a test cell guarantees realistic cooling of all vehicle components, as important errors in fuel consumption and emissions measurements may otherwise arise. In a test-room, a blower placed in front of the vehicle supplies the cooling air. While there are some guidelines in the literature for the selection of fans required for emissions measurements for standard driving cycles, the information for designing the air supply system for specific tests in other areas is scarce.New Real Driving Emissions (RDE) legislation will force manufacturers to perform on-road measurements of pollutants. This represents a significant challenge due to the variability of conditions coming from non-controlled parameters. In order to optimize vehicles, different tests are performed in cells equipped with a chassis-dyno where the on-road flow field around the vehicle is reproduced as closely as possible.This work provides some guidelines for the definition of the airflow supply system of chassis-dyno facilities for vehicle optimization tests, based on a CFD analysis of the flow characteristics around the vehicle. By comparison with the solution obtained for a vehicle in real road driving conditions, the exit section of the blower and the distance between the blower exit and the car that best reproduce realistic on-road flow conditions in a test room are determined.     

Estimating traffic volumes for signalized intersections using connected vehicle data

Recently connected vehicle (CV) technology has received significant attention thanks to active pilot deployments supported by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). At signalized intersections, CVs may serve as mobile sensors, providing opportunities of reducing dependencies on conventional vehicle detectors for signal operation. However, most of the existing studies mainly focus on scenarios that penetration rates of CVs reach certain level, e.g., 25%, which may not be feasible in the near future. How to utilize data from a small number of CVs to improve traffic signal operation remains an open question. In this work, we develop an approach to estimate traffic volume, a key input to many signal optimization algorithms, using GPS trajectory data from CV or navigation devices under low market penetration rates. To estimate traffic volumes, we model vehicle arrivals at signalized intersections as a time-dependent Poisson process, which can account for signal coordination. The estimation problem is formulated as a maximum likelihood problem given multiple observed trajectories from CVs approaching to the intersection. An expectation maximization (EM) procedure is derived to solve the estimation problem. Two case studies were conducted to validate our estimation algorithm. One uses the CV data from the Safety Pilot Model Deployment (SPMD) project, in which around 2800 CVs were deployed in the City of Ann Arbor, MI. The other uses vehicle trajectory data from users of a commercial navigation service in China. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the estimation is found to be 9–12%, based on benchmark data manually collected and data from loop detectors. Considering the existing scale of CV deployments, the proposed approach could be of significant help to traffic management agencies for evaluating and operating traffic signals, paving the way of using CVs for detector-free signal operation in the future.     

A two-dimensional simulation model for modelling turning vehicles at mixed-flow intersections

The turning behavior is one of the most challenging driving maneuvers under non-protected phase at mixed-flow intersections. Currently, one-dimensional simulation models focus on car-following and gap-acceptance behaviors in pre-defined lanes with few lane-changing behaviors, and they cannot model the lateral and longitudinal behaviors simultaneously, which has limitation in representing the realistic turning behavior. This paper proposes a three-layered “plan-decision-action” (PDA) framework to obtain acceleration and angular velocity in the turning process. The plan layer firstly calculates the two-dimensional optimal path and dynamically adjusts the trajectories according to interacting objects. The decision layer then uses the decision tree method to select a suitable behavior in three alternatives: car-following, turning and yielding. Finally, in the action layer, a set of corresponding operational models specify the decided behavior into control parameters. The proposed model is tested by reproducing 210 trajectories of left-turn vehicles at a two-phase mixed-flow intersection in Shanghai. As a result, the simulation reproduces the variation of trajectories, while the coverage rate of the trajectories is 88.8%. Meanwhile, both the travel time and post-encroachment time of simulation and empirical turning vehicles are similar and do not show statistically significant difference.     

轨道交通车辆的工艺流程标准化

从生产线建立、工艺流程编制、工艺布局设计和生产能力等方面进行分析,提出了轨道交通车辆工艺流程标准化设计方法和优化方法。基于精益管理理念和工序能力测算法,可以合理编制标准化工艺流程,从而降低劳动强度,提高生产效率。     

Protective effect of polymer coating on the circular steel plate response to near-field underwater explosions

To understand the intrinsic strong interaction between the soft coating and near-field underwater explosion, a series of comparative live fire tests are implemented. Nine steel circular plates with three configurations (i.e. rubber coated plate, foam coated plate and bare plate) are tested using 1.5 g PETN detonator. The stand-off between the plate center and explosive charge is ranged from 3.41 to 1.14 times of the maximum bubble radius. The transient strain history of the plate and acceleration history of the metal base fixture are monitored. The whole explosion process including local cavitation and bubble motion is recorded by an APX-RS high speed camera. Test results show that the compressibility of coating layer is the dominative factor that controls its protective performance in the shock wave loading phase. The more compressible foam coating distinctly reduce the shock wave intensity by local cavitation before enters the densification phase, while the explosion bubble shape and even the direction of water jet can also be changed. But the attenuation performance in the bubble loading phase is not as optimistic as that in the shock wave phase because more deformation space is required while the core has often entered the densification phase.