Comparative study of real-world driving cycles, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions of electric and gasoline motorcycles driving in a congested urban corridor

Abstract This study compared the real-world driving patterns of electric and gasoline motorcycles. The developed onboard system was installed on test motorcycles to collect real-world driving patterns in a mixed traffic and congested urban corridor. The driving cycles of both electric and gasoline motorcycles were developed, and their driving parameters, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and energy cost were compared. The results reveal that under the same driving behaviors and traffic conditions, certain driving parameters of the electric motorcycle, including average speed, average running speed, and proportion of time spent idling, were close to those of the gasoline motorcycle. However, the maximum speed and proportion of time spent in acceleration and deceleration were lower for the electric motorcycle than those of the gasoline motorcycle. In contrast, average acceleration, average deceleration, and proportion of time spent cruising were higher for the electric motorcycle than the gasoline motorcycle. The energy consumption, CO2 equivalent emissions, and energy cost of the electric motorcycle was approximately eight, two, and six times lower than those of the gasoline motorcycle, respectively, when driving in a congested urban corridor.