Abstract

MENCHACA TORRE, Hilda Lizette  and  MENDOZA DOMINGUEZ, Alberto. Performance of a hybrid vehicle and of an internal combustion vehicle under real-world drive conditions in a Mexican city. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2013, vol.29, n.2, pp.219-230. ISSN 0188-4999.

Performance evaluation of automobiles in Mexico is important because of the influence their emissions have on atmospheric contamination. The recent introduction of hybrid vehicles to the country represents an opportunity to reduce pollution produced by automobiles. Thus, it would be interesting to analyze the effects of hybrid technology. This investigation was performed on a Hybrid Honda Civic 2006 and a group of four conventional Honda Civic. The results showed that the Hybrid Honda Civic had an average fuel economy of 16.5 km/L, 31% higher than the 11.9 km/L of the internal combustion Civic, when driven under real-world conditions in Monterrey, Mexico. Emission factors for this new technology were also lower than those of one similar conventional vehicle. For example, when driven under stop-and-go conditions, the Hybrid Civic emitted 191.84 g/km of CO₂, 0.21 g/km of CO, 0.02 g/km of unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and 0.006 g/km of NO_X, while the conventional vehicle emitted 308.14 g/km, 0.79 g/km, 0.12 g/km and 0.11 g/km, respectively. Results suggest that if hybrid technology substitutes conventional vehicles, considering this investigation results as typical of both types of technology, a reduction in the mobile source emissions of up to 37.7% of CO₂, 78.0% of CO, 66.7% of HC and 93.3% of NO_X could be achieved which would contribute to lowering pollution levels in the AMM.

Keywords : hybrid vehicle; emissions characterization; fuel economy; emission factor; mobile sources.

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