Fuel economy and emissions testing of an RCCI series hybrid vehicle

In the current work, a series hybrid vehicle has been constructed that utilises a dual-fuel, reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine. Full vehicle testing was conducted on chassis dynamometers over the US Environmental Protection Agency Federal Test Procedure, Highway Fuel Economy Test and US06 using RCCI combustion with commercially available gasoline and ultra-low sulphur diesel. Fuel economy and emissions data were recorded over the specified test cycles. Testing revealed that engine-out emissions were similar to steady-state dynamometer engine testing. However, tailpipe-out emissions saw a reduction of HC and CO during the HWFET of 98.5%. Fuel economy was lower than expected due to the higher drivetrain losses of the series hybrid drivetrain. Finally, simulated changes to the drivetrain showed that it may be possible to increase fuel economy significantly, while meeting EPA emissions standards.