Vehicles Power Consumption Measurements: Case study of DART in Tanzania

Abstract

Energy consumption and its environmental impact are now among the most challenging problems in most developing cities. The common sources of energy used as the fuel in transportation sector include gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane, biofuels, electricity, coal, and hydrogen. However, in Tanzania, diesel and gasoline are still the dominant source of energy used by public and private vehicles. We have experienced significant efforts of converting conventional vehicles (gasoline engines) to operate on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or on hybrid system (gasoline and natural gas) as an alternative source of energy in Tanzania. The CNG is considered as cleaner combustion energy used as a vehicular fuel alternative to gasoline or diesel. In this paper, the amount of energy consumption from the fuel combustion, the impact of environmental health (toxicity gas emission), the cost of fuel used by the transit buses in terms of fuel energy consumption, and driving profile are discussed. Gasoline, diesel, and CNG, used in Rapid Transit (BRT) bus, are analysed and compared based on emissions and costs. The driving and road profile are measured using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. The scope of this work is based on the total energy contained in the fuel using sensors through inline measuring equipment tools. The ability of the engine to transform the available energy from the fuel into useful work power (efficiency) is left to the designers and manufacturers.