A comparison of the battery electric TU/e Lupo EL and VW Lupo 3L diesel

To gain more insight in different aspects of electric vehicles, the Dynamics and Control group of the Eindhoven University of Eindhoven has developed the Lupo Electric Lightweight (EL) as a research platform for electric mobility. A model of the powertrain of the Lupo EL is created and gives fairly accurate indications of the real-life performance of the Lupo EL. The deviation between the model and DC measurement results is less than 10%. According to the measurements results, the electric Lupo EL has significant lower carbon dioxide emissions than the Lupo 3L equipped with a diesel engine. The difference in CO2 emissions between the EL and 3L at constant speed is at least 8.9%. Batteries make the vehicle more expensive and result in additional CO2 emissions during production. The break-even distance is 82300 km for the CO2 emissions and 326400 km for the investments, if normal power grid electricity is used. If solar energy is used, the break-even distance would be 38600 km for the CO2 emissions and 243600 km for the investments. The range of the Lupo EL is between 150 and 200 km, depending on the driving conditions. Comparing the Lupo EL with other electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf and Smart ForTwo, the energy usage is fairly low