the "New European Driving Cycle" and while it can be conducted on a road it’s typically done in a laboratory in order to ensure the tests are repeatable and generate comparative figures. There are two separate tests, but usually they’re performed together and the car must be run from cold with all ancillary electrics turned off so there’s minimal battery load.
The first is the urban driving cycle (UDC), designed to mimic driving conditions in European cities. It consists of three acceleration and four braking phases and they are ludicrously gentle:
Accelerate to 9mph in four seconds
Cruise at 9mph for eight seconds
Brake to rest in five seconds
Accelerate to 20mph over 12 seconds
Cruise at 20mph for 24 seconds
Brake to rest in 11 seconds
Accelerate to 31mph over 26 seconds
Cruise at 31mph for 12 seconds
Brake to 22mph over eight seconds
Cruise at 22mph for 13 seconds
Brake to rest in 12 seconds
Adding in all the required gear changes and idle periods, this whole test takes just over three minutes and less than a mile of driving. It’s repeated another three times, with the total driven distance adding up to just 2.5 miles.
A second test was added in the 1990s, called the extra-urban driving cycle (EUDC). This is similarly gentle and not particularly recognisable as real-world driving either:
Accelerate to 44mph in 41 seconds
Cruise at 44mph for 50 seconds
Brake to 31mph in eight seconds
Cruise at 31mph for 69 seconds
Accelerate to 44mph in 13 seconds
Cruise at 44mph for 50 seconds
Accelerate to 62mph in 35 seconds
Cruise at 62mph for 30 seconds
Accelerate to 75mph in 20 seconds
Cruise at 75mph for 10 seconds
Brake to rest in 34 seconds
