Validation of road transport statistics through energy efficiency calculations

The paper presents an approach to validate vehicle-kilometre statistics of motor vehicles by comparing them with official energy consumption data. The comparisons were carried out for the 15 European Union countries by comput ing the energy efficiency and the fuel economy of individual vehicle catego ries and comparing them with real-world data and model calculations. The ma jor outcome of the study was that estimates of vehicle-kilometres are often unreliable and yield unrealistic energy efficiency and specific fuel consu mption results. Based on these conclusions, some basic guidelines are given for energy and road transport analyses: use fuel economy estimates based o n measurements of in-use cars under actual driving conditions, collect as m any travel data as possible and check their consistency with the aid of ene rgy balances. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.