The influence of driving patterns on petrol passenger car emissions

An experimental study was performed in which the emissions of fleets of petrol passenger cars with and without catalysts were determined for on-road driving conditions. Measured driving patterns from a wide variety of driving situations in Denmark were driven on a chassis dynamometer for the testing. An analysis of the driving patterns shows a relation between speed fluctuations and the average trip speed driven on the particular road. Emission trends are presented for small catalyst and non-catalyst fleets, and for an individual non-catalyst car and an individual catalyst car. It was found that the trip speed for the road was the most important factor, with the speed fluctuation, in most cases, being of less importance.