Developing a Taipei motorcycle driving cycle for emissions and fuel economy

The purposes of this study are to develop a representative driving cycle for motorcycles in metropolitan Taipei and to ascertain the emissions and fuel economy of the cycle. We collected extensive driving cycle data and proposed a methodology to develop a Taipei motorcycle driving cycle (TMDC). The characteristics of TMDC are high average acceleration and deceleration, high acceleration–deceleration changes and low average travel speed. Forty-five motorcycles were tested in a laboratory by using the ECE-40 and TMDC test procedure. The emissions of motorcycles tested by TMDC are higher than ECE, whether they are two-stroke or four-stroke engines. Furthermore, the CO and HC emissions of two-stroke engine motorcycles are higher than four-stroke engine motorcycles, and the NOx emissions of two-stroke engine motorcycles are lower than four-stroke engine motorcycles, whether they are tested by TMDC or ECE. The fuel economy of two-stroke engine motorcycles tested by TMDC is lower than ECE, but the fuel economy of four-stroke engine motorcycles tested by TMDC is higher than ECE. A linear regression of TMDC in terms of ECE emissions shows them to be highly correlated, as is fuel economy.