PASSENGER CAR FUEL ECONOMY DURING NON-URBAN DRIVING

Since the FTP does not represent the type of driving done in rural areas, especially on highways, a driving cycle to assess highway fuel economy was a desirable supplement. The new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "highway" cycle was constructed from actual speed-versus-time traces generated by an instrumented test car driven over a variety of nonurban roads and highways. This cycle reflects the correct proportion of operation on each of the four major types of nonurban roads and preserves the non-steady-state characteristics of real-world driving. /GMR