A baseline in fuel economy is the indicator that helps to locate a starting point to establish further goals and best practices based on actual behavior. This paper develops an hybrid methodology that aims to understand and establish a fuel economy baseline for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) in Mexico. The specific fuel consumption is determined for a sample size of 63 vehicles that cover the main brands of the national vehicle registry for the years 2016 to 2021. The analysis is made in depth for fuel consumption per variable such as brand, model, model-year, number of axles, road used, slope, velocity, acceleration, and altitude. Key findings of the analysis encompass a greater fuel efficiency for certain brands and models in-between them. Hypotheses relating fuel consumption with weight, slope and acceleration are accepted while speculations that associate consumption and model-year are rejected with no specific tendencies to conclude. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that by abounding in the results and the analysis itself, recommendations driven by fuel efficiency are possible for both scenarios: (i) decision-making when acquiring HDVs, and (ii) best practices according to the type of vehicle in use.
| Date of Award | 15 Dec 2021 |
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| Original language | English |
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