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Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are promoted as an alternative to conventional vehicles to meet European decarbonisation and air quality targets. However, several studies have shown that gasoline PHEVs present similar criteria and particulate emissions as their conventional gasoline counterparts. In the present work, we investigate the environmental performance of a modern plug-in hybrid Diesel-fuelled vehicle meeting the Euro 6d standard under a large variety of driving patterns, ambient temperatures, and battery states of charge (SOC). Emissions of regulated pollutants, currently unregulated pollutants, and CO2 were measured in the laboratory and following various on-road routes. The vehicle, whose electric range was 82 km, presented emissions below the Euro 6 regulatory limits in all the different driving cycles performed at 23 °C and all the on-road tests at the different battery SOC. The emissions were lower than the average of the conventional Diesel vehicles tested at JRC in 2020–2021 for all the SOC tested, the exception being solid particle number emissions >23 nm (SPN23) emissions that were comparable at all SOC. Moreover, the emissions obtained with the high voltage battery fully charged during on-road tests were comparable to those obtained with the battery at the minimum SOC for the entire test (ca. 91 km) as well as for the urban section (ca. 36 km). Overall, NOx and SPN23 emissions increased at lower temperatures, showing that at very low temperatures, there is no benefit in terms of particulate emissions from the electric range. Finally, it is shown that the emissions of N2O, the only unregulated pollutant presenting relevant emissions for this vehicle, and which are of catalytic nature, were proportional to the utilisation of the internal combustion engine. The scope of the manuscript is thus to deepen the knowledge on the emission performances of Diesel PHEVs through the systematic testing of a modern representative of this class of vehicles in a wide range of driving and environmental conditions.

The article presents issues related to the testing and verification of the keeping of straight driving direction by motor vehicles. The subjective feelings of drivers were assigned specific values of physical quantities describing the rectilinear path of motion, i.e. the steering wheel angle and the force vector applied to the steering wheel of the vehicle under test while driven along a straight path. This made it possible to determine the limit values enabling the assessment whether the object under test has a tendency to move straight ahead without any unusual steering corrections. The cases analysed relate to the situations where measurements of wheel geometry settings do not show significant deviations from the standard but, in spite of that, the vehicle requires unusual steering corrections by the driver to maintain a straight path.

The vehicle testing–validation phase is a crucial and demanding task in the automotive development process for vehicle manufacturers. It ensures the correct operation, safety, and efficiency of the vehicle. To meet this demand, some commercial solutions are available on the market, but they are usually expensive, have few connectivity options, and are PC-dependent. This paper presents an IoT-based intelligent low-cost system for vehicle data acquisition during on-road tests as an alternative solution. The system integrates low-cost acquisition hardware with an IoT server, collecting and transmitting data in near real-time, while artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms process the information and report errors and/or failures to the manufacturing engineers. The proposed solution was compared with other commercial systems in terms of features, performance, and cost. The results indicate that the proposed system delivers similar performance in terms of the data acquisition rate, but at a lower cost (up to 13 times cheaper) and with more advanced features, such as near real-time intelligent data processing and reduced time to find and correct errors or failures in the vehicle.

This study presents a large-scale analysis of real-world plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) performance using On-Board Fuel Consumption Monitoring (OBFCM) data, a mandatory European Union system that records in-use fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are critical to the EU’s decarbonization strategy, yet their real-world climate benefits remain uncertain. Using OBFCM data from 457,303 vehicles monitored between 2021 and 2023, the analysis reveals a profound discrepancy between official test values and actual on-road use. The mean real-world CO2 emissions were 138 g/km, compared to a test cycle average of 46 g/km, resulting in a regulatory gap of approximately 300%—significantly higher than for other vehicle types. Performance varied substantially across manufacturers, with gaps ranging over 200 percentage points. Contrary to expectations, larger battery capacity correlated with a wider performance gap. Real-world electric driving averaged only 45.5% of distance, far below regulatory assumptions. This gap has grown wider each year, indicating that test cycle optimization is outpacing real-world efficiency gains. Policy scenario modeling indicates that reducing the test-to-real-world gap could yield substantial CO2 savings, underscoring the need to incorporate real-world monitoring and revisit test assumptions when evaluating PHEV climate impacts.

Selected structures intended to absorb impact energy have been analysed in respect of their use in the rear underrun protective devices (RUPD) of motor trucks. The main purpose of the RUPD is to prevent a passenger car from running under the rear of a motor truck provided with such a device. From the point of view of the safety of the car occupants, it is important to take into account the components whose additional role would be to absorb a part of the impact energy so that the loads on the said occupants were minimised. This article presents experimental test results concerning selected energy-absorbing structures. Based on quasi-static strength tests, simplified material models were defined. As a result of experimental crash tests, the possible applications of selected energy absorbers to the RUPDs as their components accountable for the passive safety of passenger cars were indicated. Absorbers proposed in this paper can be considered effective energy-absorbing structures, e.g., in the case of the central impact of a medium-class car with a speed of about 40 km/h. They are relatively inexpensive in production and easily implementable to motor trucks, even taking into account some limitations related to the type-approval regulations on the European market.

This paper deals with the issues of the impact of vertical vibrations on a child seated in a child seat during a journey. Its purpose was to assess the impact of fastening the child seats and road conditions on the level of vibrations recorded on child seats. The paper describes the tested child seats, the methodology of the tests and the test apparatus included in the measuring track. The tests were carried out in real road conditions where the child seats were located on the rear seat of a passenger vehicle. One was attached with standard seat belts, and the other with the ISOFIX base. When driving on roads with three types of surface, the following vertical accelerations were measured: seat of the child seats, the rear seat of the vehicle and the ISOfix base. The recorded accelerations were first analyzed in the time domain and then in the frequency domain. Three indexes (r.m.s, rmq and VDV) were used to assess the vibration comfort. Research has shown that the classic method of fastening a child seat with standard seat belts is more advantageous in terms of vibration comfort. Calculated indicators confirmed the negative impact of separating the child seat from the rear seat of the vehicle using the IQ ISOFIX base.

A vehicle’s longitudinal acceleration is a parameter often used for determining vehicle motion dynamics. This parameter can also be used to evaluate driver behavior and passenger comfort analysis. The paper presents the results of longitudinal acceleration tests of city buses and coaches recorded during rapid acceleration and braking maneuvers. The presented test results demonstrate that longitudinal acceleration is significantly affected by road conditions and surface type. In addition, the paper presents the values of longitudinal accelerations of city buses and coaches during their regular operation. These results were obtained on the basis of registration of vehicle traffic parameters in a continuous and long-term manner. The test results showed that the maximum deceleration values recorded during the tests of city buses and coaches in real traffic conditions were much lower than the maximum deceleration values found during sudden braking maneuvers. This proves that the tested drivers in real conditions did not have to use sudden braking. The maximum positive acceleration values recorded in acceleration maneuvers were slightly higher than the acceleration values logged during the rapid acceleration tests on the track.

This article deals with the influence of the elastic-damping properties (energy losses) of tired wheels on the results of the evaluation of the technical condition (dynamic properties) of automotive suspensions carried out on the diagnostic line. The purpose of this paper is to point out the inadequacies of test stands for assessing the technical condition of vehicle suspensions. The diagnostic line used in the testing featured two testing stations. The test object was a passenger car with hydro-pneumatic suspension. This enabled the conducting of suspension tests for two settings (comfort and dynamic positions). The tests were conducted for four different air pressures in the tyres of tired wheels. This made it possible to determine, for each wheel, four graphs of the load versus tyre deflection (radial stiffness characteristics). These graphs were used to determine the values of the stiffness coefficients, energy loss, and damping characteristics as well as to identify the correlation between the directional coefficient of the regression line of the elastic and damping characteristics of the tyres and the indices characterising the damping properties of the suspension of the test car. This paper shows that the result of the shock absorber condition assessment is significantly influenced by the elastic and damping properties of the tired wheels, caused by changes in tyre pressure.

Laboratory test results for vehicle emissions, fuel economy, and driving range often fail to reflect real-world performance, undermining the effectiveness of sustainability policies and consumer guidance. This study provides the first integrated national assessment of real-world emissions and range outcomes for passenger vehicles in Australia. Using Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) data from 114 petrol, diesel, hybrid, and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) tested by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), the analysis compares laboratory-certified values against on-road results and benchmarks them with international datasets from Europe and China. Real-world CO2 emissions were, on average, 6.9% higher than laboratory ratings for petrol vehicles and 3.2% higher for diesel vehicles. Many diesel models exceeded Euro 6 NOx limits by several multiples, while hybrids exhibited inconsistent CO2 reductions under urban conditions. BEVs also displayed measurable divergence: real-world energy consumption was 1–20% higher than laboratory ratings, resulting in an average 16% reduction in effective driving range relative to WLTP values. These outcomes reveal a consistent tendency toward overstated laboratory performance across powertrains, highlighting systemic shortcomings in certification test cycles. The findings have direct implications for greenhouse gas mitigation, urban air quality, and consumer energy efficiency and support Australia’s active transition to WLTP and Euro 6 standards, institutionalisation of real-world testing, and inclusion of verified real-world energy use and range data in consumer labelling to enhance transparency and policy effectiveness.

The measurement of car acceleration in time can be used to assess driving styles and safety behaviours of drivers. The values of lateral acceleration of the car can be an indication of the driver’s aggressive driving style and tendency for risky behaviour. If the lateral acceleration is too high, it may affect the car’s stability and potentially cause it to roll over. The paper outlines the results of the lateral acceleration analysis of a Ford Transit car driving in a circle and in the attempt to change two driving lanes. The tests were conducted in driving practice areas. Measurements were taken for the test vehicle driving in circles with maximum attainable velocity, and changing two driving lanes with pre-specified velocity. The tests were conducted on asphalt and concrete surfaces, in dry, wet and icy conditions. The purpose of the tests was to determine the maximum lateral acceleration of the analysed vehicle. The impact of the surface condition on the lateral acceleration of the test vehicle was also determined. The obtained results can be used as threshold values to assess driving style, and to analyse causes of accidents taking into consideration the condition of the road surface.