The Transportation Technologies Office (TTO) has supported the development of a number of software packages and online tools to model individual vehicles and the overall transportation system. Most of these tools are available for free or a nominal charge. Modeling tools that simulate entire vehicles and components allow researchers to create and test entire "virtual vehicles." Integration and validation tools help researchers test how multiple components interact. Online tools for fleet managers on allow them to:
- Calculate the lifecycle cost and emissions of a specific vehicle
- Estimate a fleet’s petroleum use and emissions
- Find alternative fueling and charging stations
- Map the density of alternative fuel vehicles and stations
The software programs below help researchers analyze how different technologies may interact with the transportation system and overall environment.
GREET
Argonne National Laboratory has been developing the GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation) lifecycle model since 1995 with support from several CMEI offices including TTO. It allows researchers to consistently evaluate combinations of vehicle and fuel technologies.
Vehicle technologies include conventional internal combustion engines, hybrid electric systems, battery electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles. Fuel/energy options include petroleum fuels, natural gas-based fuels, biofuels, hydrogen, and electricity. LCAs conducted with the R&D GREET platform permit consideration of a host of different fuel production, and vehicle material and production pathways, as well as alternative vehicle utilization assumptions. LCA results include energy use (by different energy sources), emissions of greenhouse gases (in terms of CO2 equivalent) and emissions of air pollutants. Water consumption will be added in a new R&D GREET release. R&D GREET includes all transportation modes – on-road vehicles, aircraft, marine vessels, and rail (to be added in a new R&D GREET release).
There are currently more than 20,000 registered users of GREET, including government agencies, auto and energy companies, research institutions, universities, and public interest groups. GREET is available free of charge from Argonne National Laboratory. GREET also has a number of “mini-tools” based off of it that are useful.
VISION
The VISION tool allows users to model the cumulative potential impacts (energy use, oil use, and greenhouse gas emissions) of advanced light and heavy-duty vehicle technologies and alternative fuels under various vehicle market penetration scenarios through the year 2050.
The tool consists of two Excel workbooks. The first one is a base case of vehicle and fuel market trends to estimate U.S. highway fuel use and GHG emissions to 2050. The second one allows users to modify those base-case vehicle and fuel market trends to reflect alternative scenarios about advanced vehicle and alternative fuel market penetration. In general, VISION reflects data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s most recent Annual Energy Outlook (AEO). However, VISION’s base case has some key differences, such as assuming business-as-usual MPG for conventional internal combustion engines operating on gasoline in the future, assuming no penetration of advanced technology vehicles and alternative fuels, and estimating GHG emissions on a full fuel cycle basis by relying on GREET outputs. The workbooks provide full citations for the data used in the model. VISION is available from Argonne National Laboratory.
MA3T
The Market Acceptance of Advanced Automotive Technologies (MA3T) model helps researchers better understand how consumers evaluate and adopt new vehicle technologies. The model simulates how the market for advanced vehicle technologies could potentially change depending on a number of technological, behavioral, and economic variables, including technological learning by doing, range anxiety, access to recharging points, daily driving patterns, and willingness to accept new technologies. The model is available for free as an Excel file download from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
FASTSim™
The Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator (FASTSim™) provides a simple way to compare powertrains and estimate the impact of technology improvements on light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle efficiency, performance, cost, and battery life. This extremely fast simulation tool features a streamlined user interface and can rapidly perform a variety of tasks using basic computing resources.
The Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation has supported the development of a number of other tools, available in its Energy Analysis Resource Library.