Sarawak Campus

Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science

Higher Education Division

Tutorial 10: Sustainable Transport

CVE10006
Sustainable Design
(Semester 2, 2015)
Version date (4 November, 2015)

Student Name:

Student Identification Number:

SCORE

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1. The road load equation is used to examine how different forces act to resist motion. It is the combination
of these forces that determines how the energy provided to a vehicle is consumed. We will use this
equation to explore how different facets of a vehicles design or other factors can affect fuel efficiency.

Ftotal = M A + Cd Area V2 + M g + M g sin

Where Ftotal is the total of the forces acting on the vehicle; M is the mass of the car (including its contents);
A is the vehicles acceleration; is the density of air; Cd is the vehicles drag coefficient; Area is the frontal
area of the vehicle; V is the vehicles velocity; is the rolling resistance coefficient of the tires; g is the
gravitational constant and sin is the road grade (slope).

a) Which of the variables in this equation are controlled at least partially by you, as a vehicle owner
and driver? How important are these to the vehicles overall efficiency? How could you help to improve
the fuel efficiency of your car? [5 marks]
Variables Importance Potential Improvements
M Very important Can minimise extra and
unnecessary weight in the
vehicle
V Very important Keep to the speed limit
A Important Minimise hard accelerations
and decelerations
Cd Important Dont alter the vehicles
aerodynamics (e.g., roof racks,
bull bars etc.)
Important Keep tires properly inflated

b) Which of the variables in this equation are controlled at least partially by the vehicles manufacturer?
What could the vehicles manufacturer do to help improve the fuel efficiency of the car? [4 marks]
Variables Potential Improvements
M Use lightweight materials

Area Improve vehicle aerodynamics

Cd Improve vehicle aerodynamics

Put low resistance tires on as a standard option

c) Which of the variables in this equation are out of the control of both the manufacturer and the
owner/driver? Are they constant or variable? [3 marks]
Variables Constant or Variable?
Constant

g Constant

Sin Variable

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 Figure 1. Fleet fuel economy in Australia and Europe for a range of automobile manufacturers.

2. Figure 1 presents data on CO2 emissions for the fleets of major automobile manufacturers in Australia
and Europe. Use these data to answer the following questions.

a) Why do you think the same manufacturers emit more CO 2 from their vehicles in Australia than they
do in Europe? [1 mark]
Because Europe has more stringent emissions legislation and companies will reduce their emissions
only when compelled to do so

b) Is the argument, often made by car companies, that they are unable to improve their performance
beyond Australian levels supported by the data? [1 mark]
No, clearly they can do a better job as they do so overseas

c) Which brand does the best in terms of matching its fleet performance in Australia to that of its
European division? Where does this brand originate from? [2 marks]
Fiat, Italy

d) Which three brands do the worst in terms of matching their fleet performance in Australia to that of
their European division? Where do these brands originate from? [3 marks]
Toyota (Japan), Ford and General Motors (the USA)

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3. Most countries have their own independent regulations on the allowable fuel economy of the fleets for
automobile manufacturers. Data on these regulations and their past and future changes are presented in
Figure 2. Use these data to answer the following questions. Note: for any country whose data stops,
assume standards remain the same into the future.

Figure 2. Fuel economy regulations worldwide.

a) How does Australia perform relative to other countries or regions in terms of its fuel economy? [1
mark]
We are the worst of the countries listed

b) Which two countries or regions are set to have the lowest emissions and highest fuel economy
standards by 2020? [2 marks]
South Korea and the EU

c) How do the US and Canada (the nations most similar to Australia in terms of fuel use per capita)
compare to the nations with the lowest emissions and fuel economy standards? [1 mark]
They will be higher in 2020 but are set to match the lowest standards by 2025

d) Cars built in which countries (or regions) will have the greatest chance of being sold in 2020 to a wide
international market based on their ability to meet the standards of the widest range of nations? [2
marks]
South Korea and the European Union

e) Cars built in which countries (or regions) will have the least chance of being sold in 2020 to a wide
international market based on their ability to meet the standards of the widest range of nations? [5
marks]
Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China

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4. The distribution of road fatalities worldwide is presented in Figure 3. Use these data to answer the
following questions.

Figure 3. Global road fatalities by the type of road user in 2010.

a) Which part of the world has the highest proportion of road fatalities for the occupants of cars? [1 mark]
Europe

b) Which part of the world has the highest proportion of road fatalities for pedestrians? [1 mark]
Africa

c) Both Europe and the Americas have low proportions of road fatalities occurring for bicyclists. Given
what we learned last week, explain this for each of these locations? [1 mark]
In the US few ride bicycles; in Europe high quality cycle ways keep cyclists protected

d) Why do you think such a large proportion of road fatalities occur for motorbike riders in South East
Asia and the Western Pacific? What, if anything, could be done to reduce this figure? [2 marks]
In these areas, a large proportion of the population rides bikes and many countries have no
regulations on helmets or other safety equipment. Requiring such safety equipment would help reduce
these fatalities.

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5. Politicians and the RACV will tell you that road building is the solution to congestion. More roads equals
less time behind the wheel. Is this true? Why or why not? Note: Use Figures 4 and 5 to help you answer
this question) [2 marks]

New roads opened or lanes added

Figure 4. Average travel speed on Melbournes highways.

Figure 5. A multilane highway in Brazil.

No.
Because each new km of road built induces more people to drive. Most of the new capacity will be
soaked up in two or three years and your back where you started. Even a road with a huge number
of lanes like that in Figure 5 demonstrates this. More lanes just equals more cars.

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6. Figure 6 compares the carbon footprint of different vehicle types. Use this figure to answer the following
questions.

Figure 6. A comparison of the carbon footprint of

different vehicle types.

a) Which type of vehicle has the lowest combined carbon emissions? [1 mark]
Diesel hybrid

b) How do diesel engines compare to petrol engines in terms of carbon footprint? [1 mark]
Diesels outperform their petrol equivalents

c) Why are the emissions of the three different electric vehicles not the same? [1 mark]
Each example comes from a different country with a unique electricity mix (different energy sources).
Germany uses the most renewables so has the lowest footprint.

d) How could the emissions of the electric vehicles be improved? Is it possible to improve the
performance of electric vehicles such that they become a more attractive option than diesel vehicles?
[2 mark]
By switching to renewable energy sources.
Yes. An electric vehicle powered only by renewables would have zero emissions.

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7. Not all biofuels are created equal. Figure 7 assesses the positives and negatives of a range of different
biofuel options. Use this figure to answer the following questions.

Figure 7. An assessment of the benefits and drawbacks of different biofuels.

a) Using current technologies (e.g., corn and sugar cane ethanol and soybean biodiesel) is it possible
to meet all of the US need for motor vehicle fuel? Why or why not? [2 marks]
No.
These require far too much land

b) Biofuels are often toted as a solution to climate change. Given the data provided, is this claim valid?
Why or why not? [2 marks]
No.
Because all existing biofuel sources release significant amounts of CO2

c) What is the most promising biofuel crop? If this crop was used exclusively to make biofuel, what would
be its major advantages? [2 marks]
Algae.
It has a negative effect on greenhouse gas emissions meaning it would clean the atmosphere. It uses
very little land meaning all of almost all of the worlds vehicle fuel could come from this source.

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8. At present, electric vehicles are not able to fully replace petrol vehicles as they have certain limitations
that make them less functional than petrol powered vehicles. Use Figure 8 to discuss the two most
important of these limitations? [1 mark]

Figure 8. A comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of electric vehicles and petrol powered
vehicles.

These are the range and the time to recharge. With limited range and a long time to recharge any trip
longer than the range becomes very impractical.

9. Given what we learned last week and the driving profile of the majority of Australians how important are
these limitations? Which other limitation becomes relevant to Australians given our energy production
profile? Which Australian citizens would benefit most from electric cars? [2 marks]
Most Australians drive much shorter distances than the range on a daily basis and 33% of all trips are
only 5 km or less.
The bigger limitation for us is that our energy is derived from coal so the greenhouse gas emissions from
electric vehicles are high here. However, those who have installed solar panels would benefit significantly
from this technology.

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10. Figures 9 and 10 compare the fuel and life cycle costs of petrol, hybrid and electric vehicles. Use these
figures to answer the following questions.

Figure 9. The lifetime fuel costs of electric, hybrid and petrol powered vehicles.

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 Figure 10. The total life cycle cost of petrol, efficient petrol and hybrid vehicles.

a) If we were making a solely economic decision, which vehicle type would make the sense to buy? [1
mark]
Electric

b) If we were making a solely environmental decision, which vehicle type would make the most sense
to buy? [1 mark]
Electric

c) Which vehicle type do most consumers buy? Why do you think this is the case? [2 marks]
Petrol.
The higher initial purchase price and simple inertia (we buy what we have bought before)

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11. Figure 11 compares the energy efficiency (or energy return) for a range of different vehicle types. Use
this figure to answer the following questions.

Figure 11. The total distance that be driven using 10 kwh of energy in a hydrogen, petrol, hybrid and
electric car.

a) Which vehicle type can travel farthest on 10 kWh of energy? [1 mark]

Electric

b) Which vehicle type can travel least far on 10 kWh of energy? Given this, why do you think research
continues on this technology? [1 mark]
Hydrogen fuel cell

c) The combustion engine car in the comparison is a fuel efficient diesel that is more than 1.5 times as
fuel efficient than the average combustion engine vehicle. Given this fact, how would the hydrogen
powered car stack up against the average combustion engine vehicle? [1 mark]
The fuel cell vehicle is more efficient than the average petrol vehicle.

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 Figure 1. Fleet fuel economy in Australia and Europe for a range of automobile manufacturers.

Figure 2. Fuel economy regulations worldwide.

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 Figure 3. Global road fatalities by the type of road user in 2010.

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 New roads opened or lanes added

Figure 4. Average travel speed on Melbournes highways.

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 Figure 5. A multilane highway in Brazil.

Figure 6. A comparison of the carbon footprint of

different vehicle types.

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 Figure 7. An assessment of the benefits and drawbacks of different biofuels.

Figure 8. A comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of electric vehicles and petrol powered
vehicles.

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 Figure 9. The lifetime fuel costs of electric, hybrid and petrol powered vehicles.

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 Figure 10. The total life cycle cost of petrol, efficient petrol and hybrid vehicles.

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 Figure 11. The total distance that be driven using 10 kwh of energy in a hydrogen, petrol, hybrid and
electric car.

# End of Document #

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