Electric Vehicle Performance Test Under Urban Operation Conditions: a Case Study in Bogotá D.C.

Many factors should be taken into account in order to analyze and to optimize the electric vehicle performance in a city. Electric vehicle road tests have shown that EV range can depend on many factors such as road type, acceleration, speed, topography, air temperature, and the use of additional services such as heating and air conditioning. This article presents some field test analysis and results done in Bogota, Colombia. Efficiency and performance tests were done on an i-MiEV. Measured GPS road tests were done to determine a typical commercial fleet route, by analyzing speed, acceleration, steepness and elapsed time percentages. 250 road tests were done for evaluating the electric vehicle performance. The conducted tests examined different types of roads like arterial, intermediate and local, different types of drivers and various kinds of topography. Road test measurements showed an operational efficiency up to 80%. This high efficiency value is due to the electric vehicle energy regeneration system.