EVS27

Barcelona, Spain, November 17-20, 2013

Energy chain and efficiency in urban traffic for ICE and

EV
H.C. Righolt1, F.G. Rieck1
1
Rotterdam University of Applied Science, Heijplaatstraat 23 3089 JB Rotterdam, [email protected]

Abstract
Well to Wheel (WTW) efficiency is divided into Well to Tank (WTT) and Tank to Wheel (TTW). For ICE,
WTT is much more efficient than TTW. For EV the opposite is the case. Over the whole WTW energy
chain, only the best case for ICE is slightly more efficient than the worst case for EV. Although the TTW-
efficiency for ICE will still increase, due to Peak Oil, WTT-efficiency for ICE will decrease. If sustainable
electricity supply grows, WTT- efficiency of EV will increase. Moreover, the TTW-efficiency for EV in
urban traffic is still increasing, among others through more effective regenerative braking.

Keywords: efficiency, energy recovery, energy chain

1 Introduction 2 Methods
A lot of discussions concern the efficiency of The energy chain is divided in Well-to-Tank
Electric Vehicles (EV) compared with Internal (WTT) {fig 1} and Tank-to-Wheel (TTW). Both
Combustion Engines (ICE). The persistent belief parts contain different possibilities and their
in the inefficiency of Power Plants has led to the specific energy losses. Therefore it is chosen to
widespread assumption that EV is less efficient provide an optimistic and a pessimistic result. The
than ICE for the entire energy chain. In this paper realistic result is defined asthe mean between
the efficiency of some relevant energy chains for optimistic and pessimistic results except when
electricity is compared with that of crude oil to several (>2) sources indicate the same value; then
petrol and diesel. The variety in comparisons to this value is taken.
the efficiency between EV and ICE complicates The data and findings from the Tank-To-Wheel
the discussion. Moreover the location of the report [1], the Well-To-Tank report [2] and the
energy source also influences the results. Not Well-To-Wheel report [3] from the EU are used
only because of the energy required for for the WTT for ICE.
transportation, but also because the quality of the The Green Power for Electric Cars from Kampman
energy source is relevant. In this paper oil, et al. [4] support these figures.
natural gas, coal, wind and water form the bases
of the energy chains for operational vehicles The oral information from the president of Shell
which are used in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Netherlands BV [5] that the current energy costs
This energy chain study is executed as part of the are 0.2 barrel for the production of 1-barrel oil, is
eMobility-lab research of the Rotterdam not found on paper yet, but should be kept in mind
University of Applied Sience. and adds to the credibility of the estimations for
the Energy Return on Energy of Investment
(EROI) from Nathan Gagnon et al [6]. This is used
for the outlook to the future.

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 [3]. Even though the Proved Reserves are still
In the TTW analysis the brakefactor (BF) as growing [10], in time this probably does not
proposed by Van Sterkenburg et al. [7] is used. compensate the growth in energy consumption and
The BF indicates the possible regenerative brake the trend that the energy needed for exploration
energy (W brake ) of the vehicle in a certain trip and production is rising as well [6]. Oil
based on a measured drive cycle. In “Using transportation has a loss of 1 % including the
regenerative braking a must for the empty return of the tanker. Refining in Europe has
environment!” [8], the potential profit is a loss of about 6 %. This is a conservative figure
discussed. because the EU-report [3] gives 0,08 MJ/MJ for
The figures used for the estimations were based gasoline and 0,10 MJ/MJ for diesel. However, the
on middle class cars (1050 – 1350 kg exclusive side-products of the refining are disturbing a clear
batteries) in urban traffic of Rotterdam. Because view on the energy needed. Distribution of petrol
of usability in other energy pathways or drive and diesel takes about 20 kJ/MJ [3]. The energy
cycles the efficiency is expressed in terms of needs for the filling station (lighting etc.) is only of
percentage rather than in energy per unit interest when the turnover is very low.
distance. The energy losses by evaporation of For the US the story about Peak Oil [11] seems to
petrol and the self-discharging of batteries were be history with the exploration of shale oil.
left out. They are small and depend on the However the EROI of shale oil according to
conditions of use. Cleveland’s study [12] varies in the range from 1
barrel needed for the production of 1 to 2 barrels
for the whole process and in another more
COAL POWER DUTCH optimistic case 1 for 2 to 16. For the time being
shale oil is a negligible factor in Europe. In the
PLANT USA shale oil and shale gas are currently booming
GAS POWER [13] and as side effect export of coal to Europe is
CHARGER

Accu/tank

IGCC
increased. These instabilities in the fossil energy
market will influence the efficiency for the Power
DUTCH MIX LINES Stations and consequently the EV.

3.1.2 Tank-to-Wheel ICE

HYDRO
For the TTW-efficiency the engine losses are the
most dominant. Van Mierlo [14] and the CE-report
OIL REFINE TRANSPORT TANK [4] mention for urban traffic an efficiency range
from 13 % to 20 %. The introduction of start-stop
Figure 1: Overview of the considered energy pathways systems will increase the efficiency. Mazda claims
for EV and ICE. IGCC represent the integrated 14 % efficiency increase [15]. Bosch claims 8%.
gasification combined-cycle. Hydro represent the The practical profits and use of this system are not
Green Certificate used by the Rotterdam public known yet. Less than 5% of the fleet of cars in the
transport provider RET. Netherlands is equipped with this system (2012),
but its share is fast growing. In the Netherlands 35
% of the new cars are equipped with this system
3 Results and 40% in Belgium [16].
The research and development of tyre City cars with a lower mass are also more efficient.
manufacturers has resulted in a generic increase Nissan has co-developed Advanced High Tensile
in overall efficiency. The European Commission Strength Steel and claims that extensive use of this
made targets for the efficiency of the tyres [9]. material can reduce mass by 15% for all its models
Both ICE and EV share the same benefits of this in 2017 [17].
development.
3.1.3 Well-to-Tank ICE
3.1 ICE Figure 2 represents the relative energy losses. In
urban traffic the useful energy for middleclass cars
3.1.1 Well-to-Tank ICE is 11% to 18% of the energy of the raw material.
Crude Oil has an efficiency of 0,025 MJ/MJ with From the energy of the raw materials 83% to 88 %
a variation in the range from 0,01 – 0,04 MJ/MJ reaches the tank. The biggest energy loss of 80%
to 85% is due to the poor mechanical efficiency of

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 the ICE engine [4] when unfavourable Urban Despite the fact that the Green Certificate is based
traffic conditions are taken into account. on renewable Hydro, in reality also this energy
chain is not free of efficiency losses. The
transportation of hydro energy from Norway
causes extra losses of minimum 4% [18][19]. In
detail the efficiency is 96,0 % if the power
transportation through the NorNed High Voltage
Direct Curent (HDVC)-cable is 600 MW and 94,5
% if the power is 700 MW.
Most Norwegian hydropower plants are equipped
with Francis turbines. The efficiency of a Francis
turbine is 90 % or higher [20]. The generator has
an efficiency of 97%.
Most power plants feed in the extra high voltage
line. In the Netherlands the total grid losses are the
last years stable 5 % [21]. In table 1 is insight in
the details.

Table 1: Loss of Energy due to transportation and

transformation in the Dutch Power Lines [21]
Cause: Loss [%]
Extra high voltage line 380/250k 0,9
High voltage line 150/110 kV 0,6
Medium voltage line 10/50 kV 0,1 .. 2,7
Transformer high/medium voltage 0,5
Transformer medium/low voltage 1,1 .. 2,6
Low voltage line 230/400 V 1,4

By local circumstances the efficiency of the power

line will vary from 92% to 96%.
The battery charger can, depending on the Electric
Vehicle application, be part of the grid or of the
Figure 2 Mean relative energy-loss for ICE vehicle and is available in different qualities [22].
The efficiency varies from 76 to 98%. In this study
3.2 EV it was chosen to consider it to be part of the grid,
because this makes the battery more comparable
3.2.1 Well-to-Tank EV with the tank.
The WTT for EV highly depends on the choice
of the type of Fossil Energy Power Station or 3.2.2 Tank-to-Wheel EV
Green Energy source. In the different literature For EV the TTW-efficiency is much better than for
sources [2], [4], [14] the results hardly differ. ICE. Overall driving efficiency of the Tesla
The coal power plant has an efficiency of 39%. Roadster is 88% [23]. In practice the driving
With integrated gasification combined-cycle efficiency of EV’s will strongly depend on the
(IGCC) an efficiency of 44% to 55% is possible. amount of regenerative braking [8] and the
In case of CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) a loss efficiency and mass of the battery. The efficiency
of efficiency of 8% is expected. In the of the motor depends more on the costs rather than
Netherlands CCS is not yet deployed since the on the physical possibilities. Regenerative braking
safety is publicly disputed and cost efficiency is has a direct positive effect on the WTW-efficiency.
low. In urban traffic the use of regenerative braking will
A gas power plant has an efficiency of 43%, offset the mass effect (table 2). In that condition
with a combined cycle this can increase to 55%. BF can be 0,5. In figure 3 the potential profit in
The typical energy mix in the Netherlands raw material use at the energy source as a function
includes coal, gas and some nuclear and of BF with different internal losses is given.
renewables has an efficiency of 42% [4].

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 6.7 MJ and 1.5 MJ to 6.6 MJ. That results in an
efficiency factor of 1.24 respectively 1.29.
For a middle class vehicle a conservative estimate
of a BF is 0.4 which at 60% TTW-efficiency gives
an efficiency factor of 1.15 (see Figure 3, 15%
reduction in raw material).
At high speed the power delivery of the generator
is limited. Therefore, usually in addition to
regenerative braking, also the mechanical brake is
used. Regeneration with low speeds indicates a
Figure 3: Reduction in raw material use impedance problem between the generator and the
battery. Therefore the Lexus uses only the
Figure 5 shows an example of the measured mechanical brakes with speeds lower than 7 km/h
regenerative energy (negative current) in e-Busz and also uses mechanical brakes with higher
at Rotterdam. speeds.
For most models it is not known to what portion
mechanical brakes are used.
The 1.15 efficiency factor is applied to the
pessimistic mass effect to get the optimistic mass
effect which than includes the positive effect of
regenerative braking. It goes without saying that if
the brake factor and TTW efficiency increases the
negative effect of the mass effect could be
overcompensated by the positive effect of
regenerative braking..

Table 2 reproduce the optimistic and pessimistic

values for different EV parts.

Table 2: Borders in efficiency of parts of TTW by EV

part Energy efficiency TTW
pessimistic optimistic
Battery 0,80 0,99
Inverter 0,94 0,96
Figure 5: Regenerative braking measurements in a Motor 0,85 0,92
city cycle of a city bus [8] Transmission 0,94 0,96
Mass effect/ 0,82 0,94
The built-in safety limitations in the converter regenerative
still give significant possibilities to optimize the braking
regeneration process if you compare the relative Total 0.49 0.83
low negative current for deceleration with to the
higher positive current for acceleration.
3.2.3 Well-to-Tank EV
For reason of simplicity for the mass effect it is Figure 6 shows the mean relative energy loss of
pessimistically assumed that the energy EV. The losses are as explained above mainly in
consumption is proportional to the mass. the electricity production, while the electric
Furthermore because of the low urban speeds the vehicle is very efficient. This is in contrast to
air resistance is left out of the equation. The mass opposite distribution of losses as shown in Figure 2
of the battery pack is highly dependent on the for the ICE.
target range. A battery pack of 200 kg with the
mass of the vehicle of 1100 kg leads to a
pessimistic efficiency of 0.82.
The advantage of regenerative braking by
Sterkenburg [7] measured at the Binkie (5500
kg) respectively Parkshuttle (4650 kg) 1.3 MJ to

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 3.3 Final result
In figure 7 the results are totalised.

Figure 7 Relative energy use with different sources for

electricity for EV and energy use for ICE in urban
traffic.

In figure 8 are the same results presented as part of

the raw energy-use.

Figure 6 Mean relative energy-loss for EV (mix)

Figuur 8 Distribution of Raw Energy Use

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 electricity production will proceed. This makes
4 Discussion that the EROI gap between fossil and renewable
energy will get more and more a significant
Even though it might be argued that some of the argument. It’s even questionable if renewable
values used were estimated instead of actually energy will be accountable with losses of energy.
measured the main findings will not change In principle they do the not use raw material other
because it concerns little contributions. Only the than for the materials for the construction.
best case for ICE is only just more efficient than Regarding the EV technology the effect of
the worst case for EV. This is mainly due to the regenerative braking will be further optimized by
positive TTW of EVs in urban traffic. Especially the introduction of one pedal driving [Tesla] and
EV’s that are dedicated to Urban use will benefit the weight penalty of energy loss will be reduced
from maximum regenerative braking and do not thanks to more advanced and faster chargeable
need high driving ranges. For highway use the batteries. Permanent magnets with rare earth
efficiency for ICE is not studied, but will be metals are becoming more expensive. That’s why
probably better. For long distance traffic the the induction motor or the switched reluctance
advantage of generative braking is less and the motor will be used more and more.
need for more battery energy storage will increase The loss in Power Lines can be reduced to a third
the mass and therefore decrease the efficiency of when gas insulated lines are used [25]. Then the
EV. transport of electricity will be more efficient.
The spread between optimistic and pessimistic is
not only due to variations in definitions in the
references but also due to the generalizations of 5 Conclusion
the pathways of the energy chain as well as the In urban traffic the use of energy for EV is more
vehicles. efficient than then for ICE. The type of the power
Because of expected future developments the plant largely determines the benefits. The EV fed
results are very time-dependent. by old coal power plant hardly differs from ICE.
The green certificate source is superior.
4.1 Future The results strongly depend on the country of
In future the efficiency of oil wells will decrease. application. Future developments may change
Tar sands and shale oil will exacerbate this these findings over time. But in general one can
decline. J. David Hughes [24] claims the lifetime conclude that from a perspective of saving raw
of a production well is three years at the most. materials for energy production the trend will be
That will lower the EROI and will bring us more strongly in favour for EV. And current urban EVs
close to what is called the energy cliff (figure 9). will only be the frontrunners for the electrification
of road transport.

References
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Authors
London, June 2012 H.C. Righolt is graduated in Applied
Physics, Delft University of
[11] The End of Cheap Oil, C.J. Campbell and Technology. He is employed at the
J.H. Laherrère, Sci Amer 1998, march (p 78- Rotterdam University of Applied
83) Sciences in the department of
[12] Energy Return on Investment of Oil Shale, Engineering and applied Sciences as
Cutler J. Cleveland and Peter A. O’Connor, researcher and retired in November
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November 2011, (p 2307-2322)
Frank G. Rieck (MSc Industrial
[13] Surprise Side Effect Of Shale Gas Boom: Design & BSc Mechanical
Coal Boom Overseas, Jeff McMahon, Engineering) is Professor Future
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2 Mobility for Sustainable Solutions
012/12/10/surprise-side-effect-of-shale-gas- RDM at the Rotterdam University of
boom-coal-boom-overseas, accessed on Applied Science. He is responsible for
March 4,2013 the practice oriented research
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Mierlo, May 2009
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accessed march 18, 2013
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Strength Steel in up to 25 Percent of New
Model Parts, http://www.nissan-global.com,
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