Author(s)

FRANS BAL, JAAP VLEUGEL

Abstract

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: New truck technologies are under way, what impact could these have on fuel consumption and emissions related with the fuel consumption of trucks? How realistic is large-scale introduction of these new technologies before the year 2030? A model was used to estimate the emissions of CO₂, NO_x 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