Analyzing Electric Vehicle Energy Consumption Using Very Large Data Sets

An electric vehicle (EV) is an interesting vehicle type because it has the potential of reducing the dependence on fossil fuels by using electricity from, e.g., wind turbines. A significant disadvantage of EVs is a very limited range, typically less than 200 km. This paper compares EVs to conventional vehicles (CVs) for private transportation using two very large data sets. The EV data set is collected from 164 vehicles (126 million rows) and the CV data set from 447 vehicles (206 million rows). Both data sets are collected in Denmark throughout 2012, with a logging frequency of 1 Hz. GPS data is collected from both vehicle types. In addition, EVs also log the actual energy consumption every second using the vehicle’s CAN bus. By comparing the two data sets, we observe that EVs are significantly slower on motorways, faster in cities, and drive shorter distances compared to CVs. Further, we study the effects of temperature, wind direction, wind speed, and road inclination. We conclude that the energy consumption (and range) of an EV is very sensitive to head wind, low temperatures, and steep road inclinations.