Alternative Drivetrain for Future Freight Trucks

• Main Author: Tsamos, Athanasios
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan i Gävle, Energisystem och byggnadsteknik 2020
• Subjects: future freight trucks; transportation; sustainable fuels; alternative fuels; future mobility; long distance trucks; hybrid mobility; alternative drivetrain; electric trucks; Energy Engineering; Energiteknik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-33395

Presently, heavy-duty trucks are responsible for approximately 25% of global CO2 emissions. Although the world seems to incline towards the transport sector's electrification, the electrification of long-range freight trucks is profoundly challenging. The dominant disincentives are the required infrastructure, cost/size of batteries, limited mileage, and long charging sessions. However, despite the efforts to reduce emissions, current trends indicate that these continue to rise, mostly because of the continually increasing freight transit. Regional economies are heavily dependent on the latter. Thus, the imminent depletion of fossil fuels and the emerging environmental issues are disquieting aspects for the sustainability of this crucial sector. This thesis focuses on the possible alternative powertrain/drivetrain solutions for heavy-duty, long-range freight trucks in conjunction with sustainable energy carriers for the transportation sector overall. In terms of viable fuelling alternatives, the following are being reviewed: Electric Power, Bio-Fuels, and Synthetic Fuels, along with their current status, advantages, disadvantages and future prospects. In terms of powertrain/drivetrain alternatives, the following are being theoretically and critically evaluated and compared against a direct drive conventional Diesel engine truck (25.2% wheel efficiency): Battery Electric, Electric powered with overhead cables or underground conductive coils, combined Gas Turbine/Stirling Engine Hybrid Electric in series, combined Diesel engine/Stirling engine Hybrid Electric in series, and Diesel engine Hybrid Electric in series.  It is concluded that the best scenario for future freight trucks, is the use of an electric drivetrain/powertrain in conjunction with overhead powering cables along the highways. However, due to uncertainties in the universal realization of such infrastructure, to ensure uninterrupted transportation of goods, a plausible transitional solution could be the use of a Diesel engine/Stirling engine Hybrid Electric in series technology. This could reduce emissions/consumption by a factor of 2.4 (60% wheel efficiency). For the case of Gas turbine/Stirling engine and Diesel engine (both) Hybrid Electric in-series arrangements, this factor drops to 1.7 and 1.4 (42.9% and 34.3% wheel efficiency), respectively. Furthermore, this can be a clean and sustainable solution if biofuels are employed as the prime energy carriers. Such an approach is future-proof for use with overhead cables, since the suggested powertrain is electric, rendering a freight truck as a very versatile heavy-duty, long-range vehicle. Electro-fuels are not considered as a viable option due to their inefficient formulation, elevated costs, and problematic handling (Hydrogen).