Concerns about energy security and climate change have sparked legislators’ interest in reducing gasoline consumption by increasing corporate average fuel-economy (CAFE) standards. Using an empirically rich simulation model and cost estimates for anticipated fuel-economy technologies, we estimate annual costs of reducing long-run gasoline consumption by 10% via a 3.8 miles per gallon increase i...

A systematic methodology is developed for choosing the optimum ratio trajectory of a continuously variable transmission in a passenger vehicle. The optimum CVT ratio schedule is formulated as a constrained optimization problem with maximum fuel economy as the objective function and driveability concerns and physical limitations included as the constraints. The key notion to achieving good drive...

In 1975 the United States government required automobile manufacturers to increase the corporate average fuel economy of their products. Why were such CAFE regulations more effective than increases in the price of gasoline in improving fuel economy? Our answer focuses on myopia by consumers, myopia by producers, and the rational incentive to delay irreversible

This paper presents a computationally efficient flight optimization method for improving the fuel economy of a fixed-wing aircraft following a landing path during the descent and approach phases. The problem is converted to an optimal control problemwith one energy state variable, subject to state and control input constraints along the path. It is shown that the solution to the energy-optimal ...

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched FreedomCAR, which is a partnership with automakers to advance high-technology research needed to produce practical, affordable advanced vehicles that have the potential to significantly improve fuel economy in the near-term. Advanced materials (including metals, polymers, composites, and intermetallic compounds) can play an important role in...

In this paper we attempt to understand how policy interventions could improve the fuel economy of drivers without changing the vehicles they drive or the trips they take. To do this, we use high-resolution driving data to document the large variation in actual on-road fuel economy achieved by drivers of identical vehicles. We analyze this variation using a model that links driver behavior to ve...

Keywords: Vehicle fuel economy Eco-driving Human–machine interface Autonomous vehicle Driving simulator analysis a b s t r a c t Motor vehicle powered by regular gasoline is one of major sources of pollutants for local and global environment. The current study developed and validated a new fuel-economy optimization system (FEOS), which receives input from vehicle variables and environment varia...

Automotive Systems A u to m o tive Sstem s Th e fuel pressure control system (FPCS) was developed to comply with increasingly strict fuel-effi ciency and emissions regulations by improving fuel economy and reducing emissions. It controls the discharge fl ow rate of the fuel pump and fuel injection pressure in accordance with engine operating conditions. Past fuel supply systems have operated th...

Hybrid electric vehicles are seen as a solution to improving fuel economy and reducing pollution emissions from automobiles. By recovering kinetic energy during braking and optimizing the engine operation to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, a hybrid vehicle can outperform a traditional vehicle. In designing a hybrid vehicle, the task of finding optimal component sizes and an appropriate c...