Impacts of the New Worldwide Light-Duty Test Procedure on Technology Effectiveness and China's Passenger Vehicle Fuel Consumption Regulations

As a main measure to promote the development of China's energy-saving and new energy vehicles, the Phase V fuel consumption regulation is dramatically different from the past four phases, especially in the test procedure, moving from the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) to the worldwide harmonized light duty test cycle (WLTC) and corresponding test procedure (WLTP). The switch of test procedure will not only affect the effectiveness of technologies but also change the fuel consumption target of the industry. However, few studies have systematically investigated the impacts of the new WLTP on the Chinese market. This study establishes a technology-vehicle-fleet bottom-up framework to estimate the impacts of test procedure switching on technology effectiveness and regulation stringency. The results show that due to the WLTP being closer to the real driving condition and more stringent, almost all baseline vehicles in the WLTP have higher fuel consumption than that in the NEDC, and diesel vehicles are slightly more impacted than gasoline vehicles. In addition, the impacts are increased with the strengthening of electrification, where the fuel consumption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) in the WLTP are about 6% higher than that in the NEDC. Engine technologies that gain higher effects in low load conditions, such as turbocharging and downsizing, fuel stratified injection (FSI), lean-burn, and variable valve timing (VVT), are faced with deterioration in the WLTP. Among these, the effect of turbocharging and downsizing shows a maximum decline of 8.5%. The variable compression ratio (VCR) and stoichiometric gasoline direct injection (SGDI) are among the few technologies that benefited from procedure switching, with an average improvement of 1.6% and 0.2% respectively. Except for multi-speed transmissions, which have improvement effects in the WLTP, all automatic transmissions are faced with decreases. From the perspective of the whole fleet and national regulation target, the average fuel consumption in the WLTP will increase by about 7.5% in 2025 compared to 4 L/100 km in the NEDC. According to the current planning of the Chinese government, the fuel consumption target of Phase V is set at 4.6 L/100 km in 2025, which is equivalent to loosening the stringency by 0.3 L/100 km. In Phase VI, the target of 3.2 L/100 km is maintained, which is 30.4% stricter than that of Phase V, and the annual compound tightening rate reaches 7.5%. This means that automakers need to launch their product planning as soon as possible and expand the technology bandwidth to comply with the Phase VI fuel consumption regulation, and the government should evaluate the technical feasibility before determining the evaluation methods and targets of the next phase.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of WLTP on the Chinese market, revealing the effects of WLTP on fuel consumption compared to NEDC and the performance of different engine technologies under WLTP. The findings provide valuable insights for future policy-making for automotive manufacturers and government regulators.