Improved Ecodriving Using Instantaneous Consumption Displays in an Electric Vehicle Driving Simulator: The Role of Energy Dynamics Awareness

Supporting drivers in reducing energy consumption is essential for sustainable mobility. In electric vehicles, the invisibility and volatility of energy make it difficult for drivers to understand energy dynamics, hindering optimally energy-efficient action regulation.In a driving simulator experiment with N = 77 participants, we investigated drivers' operational ecodriving and its improvement over 8 trials using instantaneous consumption displays with different information processing demands. Participants were divided into two display groups (trace, bar) and a control group without a display. We assessed their ecodriving (average consumption) and Energy Dynamics Awareness (energy-specific situation awareness, EDA), specifically, their experienced (self-rating scale) and actual (consumption estimate accuracy) EDA.Across groups, we observed improvements in experienced EDA, consumption estimate accuracy, and energy efficiency. The information processing demand affected improvements in experienced EDA and ecodriving but not consumption estimate accuracy. Experienced EDA negatively correlated with energy consumption, highlighting its relevance in ecodriving.