Impact of Road Gradient on Electric Vehicle Energy Consumption in Real-World Driving

Abstract

With serious concerns on environmental problems related to CO2 emissions and energy crisis, special attention has recently been paid to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Specifically, an accurate estimation of energy consumption for EV is still a big issue. Therefore, quantifying the impact of various external factors on EV energy consumption, such as road topology, driver profile and traffic conditions is a necessity. In this paper, we review the energy consumption models for EVs. Then, we analyze the impact of the road gradient on EV energy consumption through a set of real world experimentations. The obtained results, allow us to better understand the impact of upward and downward gradient on both energy consumption and energy recuperation processes.