Impact of real-world driving characteristics on vehicular emissions

With increase in traffic volume and change in travel related characteristics, vehicular emissions and energy consumption have increased significantly since two decades in India. Current models are not capable of estimating vehicular emissions accurately due to inadequate representation of real-world driving. The focus of this paper is to understand the level of Indian Driving Cycle (IDC) in representing the real-world driving and to assess the impact of real-world driving on vehicular emissions. The study has revealed that IDC does not represent the real-world driving. Irrespective of road classes, about 30% of time is spent below 20 km/h and the speed too exceeds IDC's maximum limit of 42 km/h. Emissions are estimated for different driving patterns using International Vehicle Emission (IVE) model. Emission rates vary significantly from one class of road to another and the largest effect is on local streets.