Energy Consumption Reduction Strategies for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles with Connected Vehicle Technology in an Urban Environment

Abstract

Automobile manufacturers have introduced plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to reduce fossil fuel consumption. This paper details three optimization strategies that can be utilized to further minimize energy consumption of PHEVs through an information exchange between PHEVs and infrastructure agents supported by the connected vehicle technology (CVT). While an earlier research by the authors focused on a freeway scenario, this study developed strategies for an urban scenario in which frequent ‘stop-and-go’ conditions exist. Three strategies were considered in this study based on different types of information availability using CVT; only signal timing information was available in Strategy One, only headway information was available in Strategy Two, and both signal timing and headway information were available in Strategy Three. The performance of PHEVs that received no real-time information was used as the base case for Strategies One, Two or Three to evaluate each strategy. The optimization strategies resulted in energy consumption savings ranging from 60% to 76%. An analysis with various levels of penetration of CVT-supported PHEVs in the traffic was conducted to demonstrate the impact of these optimization strategies with their increased market share. For a case study network, the authors found a linear trend between energy savings and penetration rate of CVT supported PHEVs. The Strategy Three in which signal timing and headway data were provided to CVT supported PHEVs, resulted in about 31% to 35% energy savings with 30% penetration of CVT supported PHEVs at the peak hour volume