Fuel Economy of Ecodriving Programs

Abstract

Ecodriving is primarily a driving technique designed to improve fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the environment. This study assessed the effectiveness of ecodriving programs for application in real-world settings in developing countries vis-à-vis its application in developed countries. This study investigated the effects of an ecodriving program on 30 candidate drivers in Manila, Philippines, and 27 candidate drivers in Tokyo. As a prerequisite, candidate drivers were selected to include only those owning vehicles with compatible onboard diagnostics for the fuel meter and GPS equipment. The drivers were then subjected to 2 weeks of monitoring for the collection of real-world driving data, data from the day of training on ecodriving, and data from a questionnaire asking about the drivers’ characteristics. Analysis of the data focused on driver and vehicle parameters. Statistical evaluation examined the outcomes for the parameters before and after the training and also measured the effectiveness of the ecodriving program. The study compared the outcomes of the training and real-world driving operations by the drivers. The study demonstrated that the ecodriving programs significantly affected the driving performance of the drivers both on the training day and in real-world driving cases and that the programs improved the fuel economy values for the Manila as well as the Tokyo drivers. Although the fuel economy improvements during the training day and in real-world driving operations were not related, these improvements were related to some of the drivers’ characteristics.