Developing driving cycles for garbage trucks to estimate fuel consumption

Abstract

Driving cycle offers a comprehensive understanding of operational features throughout the waste collection and transportation (C&T) process, which is critical for optimizing waste management aiming at reducing energy use and environmental pollution. In this study, the Micro-trip method, combined with principal component and cluster analysis, was adopted to divide the C&T process into five operational phases. Considering diverse waste types and C&T modes, four driving cycles were synthesized for garbage trucks. The average speeds of garbage truck cycles are considerably lower, coupled with prolonged idle durations, marking a substantial deviation from standard cycles. Additionally, the OpMode-bin method was employed to estimate fuel consumption for both garbage truck cycles and standard cycles. The results reveal that using standard cycles generally results in an underestimation of fuel consumption by 20 % to 30 %, which highlights the necessity of developing specific driving cycles to ensure accurate fuel use and emission quantification for garbage trucks.