Accurate estimation of vehicle activity is critically important for the accurate estimation of emissions. To provide a benchmark for estimation of vehicle speed trajectories such as those from traffic simulation models, this paper demonstrates a method for quantifying light-duty vehicle activity envelopes based on real-world activity data for 100 light-duty vehicles, including conventional passenger cars, passenger trucks, and hybrid electric vehicles. The vehicle activity envelope was quanti-fied in the 95% frequency range of acceleration for each of 15 speed bins with intervals of 5 mph and a speed bin for greater than 75 mph. Potential factors affecting the activity envelope were evaluated; these factors included vehicle type, transmission type, road grade, engine displacement, engine horsepower, curb weight, and ratio of horsepower to curb weight. The activity envelope was wider for speeds ranging from 5 to 20 mph and narrowed as speed increased. The latter was consistent with a constraint on maximum achievable engine power demand. The envelope was weakly sensitive to factors such as type of vehicle, type of transmission, road grade, and engine horsepower. The effect of road grade on cycle average emissions rates was evaluated for selected real-word cycles. The measured activity envelope was compared with those of dynamometer driving cycles, such as the federal test procedure, highway fuel economy test, SC03, and US06 cycles. The effect of intervehicle variability on the activity envelope was minor; this factor implied that the envelope could be quantified based on a smaller vehicle sample than used for this study.
