Abstract:

The market penetration rate for electric vehicles (EVs) is steadily expanding as a result of a variety of factors including pollution reduction programmes, government incentives, cost reduction, and rising gasoline prices, to name a few. In the vehicular field, researchers frequently use simulators to validate their proposals before implementing them in real world, while reducing costs and time. In this work, the authors use ns-3 network simulator enhanced version to demonstrate the influence of the map layout and the vehicle features on the EVs consumption. In particular, the authors analyze the estimated consumption of EVs simulating two different scenarios: (i) a segment of the E313 highway, located in the north of Antwerp, Belgium and (ii) the downtown of the city of Antwerp with real vehicle models. According to the results obtained, the authors demonstrate that the mass of the vehicle is a key factor for energy consumption in urban scenarios, while in contrast, the Air Drag Coefficient ( Cd ) and the Front Surface Area (FSA) play a critical role in highway environments. The most popular and powerful simulations tools do no present combined features for mobility, realistic map-layouts and electric vehicles consumption. As ns-3 is one of the most used open source based simulators in research, the authors have enhanced it with a realistic energy consumption feature for electric vehicles, while maintaining its original design and structure, as well as its coding style guides. The approach allows researchers to perform comprehensive studies including EVs mobility, energy consumption, and communications, while adding a negligible overhead.