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As passenger cars are progressively moving towards more electrification, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) may play a greater role. Several questions arise regarding their performance in real-world conditions, their optimal configuration - in terms of battery capacity, fuel and powertrain used - and their pollutant emissions. In this context, two PHEVs complying with Euro 6d standards were evaluated on a chassis-dyno and on-road using the same road profile, complying with RDE requirements. The two vehicles differ only by their powertrain, one being diesel-fueled, and the other being gasoline-fueled. The vehicles were tested under various conditions, including charge depleting and charge sustaining modes (i.e., tests respectively starting with a fully charged battery and a discharged battery), with various fuel compositions including traditional fossil-based fuels, 100% renewable Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and 100% renewable gasoline, blended with 20% v/v ethanol (E20).

Since 2019 in-service conformity testing for vehicles as described in EU legislation 2018/1832 is active and obliges numerous emission control tests on WLTP and RDE cycles. For the on-road portion of these tests typically Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) are used. While these systems provide all necessary regulated emissions measurements, their use and handling are difficult due to their weight, cumbersome installation, and their limited accessibility due to a high price point. In order to make the real-driving measurement accessible for a maximum number of institutions, IFPEN is developing a compact measurement system with an advanced cloud modeling of the vehicle for more cost-effective and user friendly RDE and ISC testing. This real-time analyzer, named “REAL-e” is developed as an IoT system, who’s measured data is transferred in real-time to a secured cloud service for enhanced data processing and data enrichment.

As congestion increases and commute times lengthen with the growing urbanization, many customers will look for effective mobility solutions. Two-wheeler are one of the solutions to deal with these issues, in particular if equipped with electrified powertrains for minimized local noise and air pollutant emissions. Scooters powertrain technology is predominantly based on Spark Ignition Engine (ICE) associated with a Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) and a Centrifugal Clutch. Nevertheless, even though CVT gives satisfaction in simplicity, fun to drive, cost effectiveness and vehicle dynamics, its efficiency is an undeniable drawback. Indeed, a conventional CVT is wasting more than 50% of ICE effective power in customer driving conditions. Consequently, those vehicles have high fuel consumption relative to their size, and are equipped with overpowered and heavy internal combustion engines, allowing a large area for further improvements.