National Center for Sustainable Transportation

In recent years, a number of “Smart Pedal” systems have emerged, both as automotive OEM equipment and as third-party hardware. These “Smart Pedal” systems can be installed in vehicles with the potential to reduce fuel consumption and GHG emissions by smoothing a driver’s acceleration patterns, with little effect on travel time or safety. This research evaluates the potential effectiveness of a select “Smart Pedal” system for improving fuel economy and reducing GHG emissions in the Caltrans vehicle fleet. Following a literature review, the SmartPedalTM throttle controller, currently a $299 device that effortlessly attaches to the accelerator pedal, was selected for evaluation. The SmartPedalTM device corrects the accelerator pedal signal for micro accelerations caused by the influence of artifacts in the roadway on the driver’s foot and the accelerator pedal. The SmartPedalTM technology was evaluated using six Caltrans vehicles instrumented with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) enabled Engine Control Unit (ECU) data loggers. ECU and GPS data was collected for a baseline period of vehicle operation without the SmartPedalTM device installed, followed by a period of operation with the SmartPedalTM device installed. For each test vehicle, the two datasets provided comparison data to evaluate the “Smart Pedal” technology. The amount of data in each collection period, in terms of distance, ranged from 548 miles to roughly 2,800 miles. An average fuel economy increase of up to 6.29% was observed for a vehicle with the "Smart Pedal" technology installed. The payback period for that scenario was evaluated based on the vehicle’s average monthly mileage during the study period and was about 15.76 months. Two of the six vehicles showed a small fuel economy decrease (-0.52% and -1.72%), which suggests that the effect of uncontrolled parameters is significant. This study consisted of real-world operation and the contribution of factors such as changes in payload, number of passengers, driver, accessory usage, etc., is unknown. Despite the limitations of this study, results were largely in-line with larger case studies based on fleet fuel consumption data that showed fuel economy savings in the range of 1.5% to 16.8%.

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