Advice Provision for Energy Saving in Automobile Climate-Control System

FALL 2015 61 There is a growing interest in electrical cars. Since 2012 there has been an increase of 170 percent in electrical cars worldwide (as of July 2014) (Trigg and Telleen 2013).1 Yet one of the most reported reasons for refraining from changing to electrical cars is the relatively limited travel range they have in comparison to gasoline-powered cars. Extending the travel range is of course desirable; electrical cars are economically beneficial and environmentally friendly — totally gas-free and tailpipe-emissions-free. Auto experts from Edmunds.com and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) have reported that the air conditioner reduces a car’s fuel efficiency by up to 10 percent.2, 3 Thus, we propose an automated agent that advises the driver on how to set the car’s climate-control system in a way that reduces energy consumption while keeping the driver comfortable. We conducted this research in the summer time using a Chevrolet GM Volt car. During that time tempera-