Using On-Road Data to Correct Underestimations of Fuel Consumption of Motorcycles from Laboratory Tests

There is not much literature on fuel economy performance of motorcycles from laboratory approval tests in the real world. The mainstream official statistics from laboratory approval tests report fuel efficiencies for each motorcycle model. However, the authors' tests reveal that fuel efficiencies of urban arterials are 55-60% to the lab-test harmonic means regardless of age deterioration. Alternatively, with the on-board measurement system (OBS)-584 developed by Automotive Research and Testing Center (ARTC) suitable for motorcycles, it enables on-road data available for motorcycles. The authors found that average fuel consumption by speed showed positive correlations to speeds, regardless of laboratory approval tests, urban or rural on-road tests. Moreover, similar correlation patterns of younger and older motorcycles suggest that the statistic regressions are probably a shared form among models or across ages. Further investigations into data directly collected from motorcycles in the real world might shed light on new approaches to better quantifying fuel consumptions of motorcycles driving on the road.