UC Riverside created tool that takes into account real-time traffic information, road grade and road type cuts down on energy use

By Sean Nealon on September 8, 2014

A vehicle navigation tool created at UC Riverside can cut electric vehicle energy use up to 51 percent.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) Researchers at the University of California, Riversides Bourns College of Engineering have shown that a vehicle navigation tool they created can cut electric vehicle energy use up to 51 percent.

The researchers tested the eco-routing navigation system which takes into account real-time traffic information, road type and road grade on three routes around Riverside. Using road testing and computer simulations, they studied three types of navigation systems: shortest distance, least time and least energy.

They found:

Guoyuan Wu, an assistant research engineer at UC Riverside.

The researchers, who are part of the Bourns College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology, outlined their findings in a report to the California Energy Commission, which paid for the study with a $95,000 grant. The researchers are: Guoyuan Wu, an assistant research engineer; Matthew Barth, the director of the research center; and Kanok Boriboonsomsin, an associate research engineer.

Past research by these UC Riverside engineers has shown that the eco-routing navigation systems can potentially reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from conventional fossil fuel-powered vehicles by five percent to 15 percent.

For electric vehicles, the benefits of the eco-routing navigation system go beyond energy and emission savings. The technology can cut down so-called range anxiety, meaning the driver of an electric vehicle fearing he or she wont be able to complete a trip without running out of electricity to power the cars battery.

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Cutting Electric Vehicle Energy Use 51 Percent