Estimating Real-World Emissions of PHEVs in Norway by Combining Laboratory Measurement with User Surveys

Abstract

The paper presents the results of experimental testing of the exhaust emission and energy consumption of two gasoline plug-in hybrid vehicles in an emission testing laboratory with different drive cycles and drive modes and at summer and winter temperatures. One was a compact vehicle with a type approval electric mode range of 50 km, the other a mid-sized vehicle with an electric mode range of 31 km. Additionally, an online survey of 2065 private plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) owners investigated the usage pattern of the vehicles. Combining the laboratory tests with the user survey results provided an estimate for the reduction of CO2-emission of PHEVs in use in Norway. The main conclusion is that the PHEV is a vehicle type that needs to match well with the use pattern to produce low CO2- and local emissions. The achievable CO2-emission reduction was proportional to the range in electric drive-mode (E-mode), i.e., 50 km range resulted in about 50% reduction.