The impact of hybrid engines on fuel consumption and emissions of heavy-duty trucks

The impact of hybrid engines on fuel consumption and emissions of heavy-duty trucks

Bal, Frans (RISSK)
Vleugel, J (TU Delft Transport and Planning)

Brebbia, CA (editor)
Sendra, J (editor)

2017-11-30

Overland transport of goods mainly goes by road. Road freight transport, trucking in particular, has a large share in the energy consumption, CO2-emissions and air pollution by human activities. This will become an even bigger issue with the expected massive growth of road freight transport.
Climate change mitigation asks for a major reduction of CO2-emissions from human origin. Improvement of air quality is a second reason why trucking companies have to look for alternative engine-fuel configurations: Biodiesel, gas and electricity. The paper answers two research questions:
1.New truck technologies are under way, what impact could these have on fuel consumption and emissions related with the fuel consumption of trucks?
2.How realistic is large-scale introduction of these new technologies before the year 2030?
A model was used to estimate the emissions of CO2, NOx and PM10 of a truck transporting goods along a pre-defined route consisting of city roads and highways. The volumes and composition of the emissions vary depending on the data entered by the user: Route/distance, fuel efficiency/consumption, emission factors and engine-fuel configuration. The model was used for a micro-simulation, but an extension towards a macro-simulation model is feasible. This would allow to estimate the impact on fuel consumption and emissions for a fleet of trucks. The model indicates that the main benefit of an alternative like biodiesel lies in the reduction of PM10-emissions. Electric trucking is necessary to drastically reduce CO2-emissions and air pollution.
In a few years from now hybrid diesel-electric trucks will become common. Full-electric trucks energized by internal (hydrogen in fuel cells) and/or external (trolley-like, high density batteries) sources are feasible well before the year 2030. Electric trucking means a drastic change in the use of fuels with implications for the electricity grid as well.

Keywords: Energy consumption, emissions, heavy-duty trucks, environment, conditions.

Energy consumption
emissions
conditions
environment
heavy-duty trucks

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7df9a42b-2380-4a07-b53c-22ea50fcc087

https://doi.org/10.2495/ESUS170191

WIT Press, Southampton

978-1-78466-221-9

Energy and Sustainability VII, 224

7th International Conference on Energy and Sustainability, 2017-09-20 → 2017-09-22, Seville, Spain

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 224

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2017 Frans Bal, J Vleugel