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Over the past decade, the passenger transport segment has undergone significant changes, particularly in the way vehicles are propelled. These changes have been influenced by the global drive to reduce the environmental burden associated with the operation of vehicles. Although these trends are primarily focused on the environmental aspects of vehicle operation, the economic aspects inevitably associated with the operation of each vehicle are also changing. This article deals with the calculation of life cycle costs, or the return on investment for vehicles with alternative drives compared to conventional drives. In order to obtain objective outputs, a mathematical model for the calculation of the life cycle costs of passenger vehicles has been developed and applied to these vehicles. The presented mathematical model expresses the acquisition costs and mainly the ownership costs for operation and maintenance. Finally, a comparison of the whole life cycle costs of selected vehicles with different powertrains was made. The following powertrains are compared in this paper, i.e. petrol engine, diesel engine, petrol and CNG engine, mild hybrid engine, plug-in hybrid engine and electric motor. The presented findings and input values for the calculations of the individual cost components reflect the current state in terms of economic demands. Due to the high rate of development and improvement of alternative propulsion modes, especially pure electric propulsion technologies, it can be assumed that the life cycle costs will follow a decreasing trend.

The article deals with the measurement of dynamic effects that are transmitted to the driver (passenger) when driving in a car over obstacles. The measurements were performed in a real environment on a defined track at different driving speeds and different distributions of obstacles on the road. The reaction of the human organism, respectively the load of the cervical vertebrae and the heads of the driver and passenger, was measured. Experimental measurements were performed for different variants of driving conditions on a 28-year-old and healthy man. The measurement’s main objective was to determine the acceleration values of the seats in the vehicle in the vertical movement of parts of the vehicle cabin and to determine the dynamic effects that are transmitted to the driver and passenger in a car when driving over obstacles. The measurements were performed in a real environment on a defined track at various driving speeds and diverse distributions of obstacles on the road. The acceleration values on the vehicle’s axles and the structure of the driver’s and front passenger’s seats, under the buttocks, at the top of the head (Vertex Parietal Bone) and the C7 cervical vertebra (Vertebra Cervicales), were measured. The result of the experiment was to determine the maximum magnitudes of acceleration in the vertical direction on the body of the driver and the passenger of the vehicle when passing a passenger vehicle over obstacles. The analysis of the experiment’s results is the basis for determining the future direction of the research.

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