Transportation and Climate
Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) Tool
EPA’s Advanced Light-Duty Powertrain and Hybrid Analysis (ALPHA) is a full vehicle simulation tool which estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from light-duty vehicle sources. It is a physics-based, forward-looking, full vehicle simulator, capable of simulating various vehicle types and powertrain technologies. The software is a freely-distributed, desktop computer based application, built on MATLAB/Simulink. This first version of the tool consists only of conventional vehicles and should only be used for off-cycle technology evaluations. The next version of the tool will include hybrid and electric vehicles and can be used for various vehicle technology effectiveness evaluation purposes.
NOTE: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.
The downloadable installation file below (in a zip format) contains the ALPHA tool, which may be used for off-cycle technology evaluation purposes. The model documentation provides details on how to launch and run the simulation tool.
Software & Documentation
- ALPHA User's Guide for Off-Cycle Credit Evaluation v1.0 (PDF) (22 pp, 1.27MB, EPA-420-B-12-051, August 2012) This document contains descriptions of how to launch and use the ALPHA tool for off-cycle technology evaluation.
- ALPHA v1.0 Installation File (ZIP) (198K) This file contains the ALPHA v1.0 application files written in MATLAB/Simulink. This version was used in EPA’s Model Year 2017-2025 Final Rulemaking for Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards.