Driving Sustainability: Analyzing Eco-Driving Efficiency Across Urban and Interurban Roads with Electric and Combustion Vehicles

Abstract

Eco-driving is a key strategy for reducing energy consumption and emissions in electric vehicles (EVs) and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. However, research gaps remain regarding its effectiveness across different driving environments, vehicle types, transmission systems, and contexts. This research evaluates eco-driving efficiency in urban and interurban settings, comparing small (Caceres) and large (Madrid) cities and assessing EVs ICE with direct, manual, and automatic transmissions. The authors conducted a large-scale driving experiment in Spain, with over 500 test runs across different road types. Results in the large city show that eco-driving reduces energy consumption by 30.4% in EVs on urban roads, benefiting from regenerative braking, compared to 10.75% in manual ICE vehicles. Automatic ICE vehicles also performed well, with 29.55% savings in local streets. In interurban settings, manual ICE vehicles achieved the highest savings (20.31%), while EVs showed more minor improvements (11.79%) due to already optimized efficiency at steady speeds. The small city showed higher savings due to smoother traffic flow, while single-speed transmissions in EVs enhanced efficiency across conditions. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing eco-driving strategies and vehicle design. Future research should explore AI-driven eco-driving applications and real-time optimization to improve sustainable mobility.