Modelling the Energy Consumption of Road Vehicles in Transport Networks Evaluation

Drivers are aware that energy consumption is a key factor in the cost of travel and that it affects their route choice on a road network. This paper presents a framework for modelling the estimation of energy consumption together with a link cost function that connects with the demand–supply interaction on a road network. Demand–supply interaction models, used in static and dynamic traffic assignment, have a significant limitation: they cannot simulate a generalised perceived cost in aggregate form without considering energy consumption as a component of the cost in a complete cost function. This paper presents a framework that explicitly takes into account the cost of energy consumption inside a consolidated traffic assignment model. The framework explicitly models the circular dependency between energy consumption and traffic conditions on the link. The model is specified and supported by a test numerical application in a test system, which validates the proposed framework.