Analysis of the impact of information about future driving situations on the energy consumption

Locally emission-free driving with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) demands accurate information about the energy demand for driving in certain areas or for reaching the next charging station. In order to avoid using the internal combustion engine, this study shows the impact of information about future driving situations on the accurate prediction of the required energy demand. To generate realistic data of specific driving situations, a simulation environment has been developed. Due to paramaterizable settings, it enables reproducible analyses of different influences on the energy demand, in particular of the traffic, the traffic control and the driving characteristics. Since especially urban driving is interesting for electric driving with PHEVs, the analyses concentrate on urban driving. The results show that it is more important to know the traffic situation in urban areas than on highways.