The evaluation of developing vehicle technologies on the fuel economy of long-haul trucks

We present fuel savings estimates resulting from the combined implementation of multiple advanced energy management technologies in both conventional and parallel hybrid Class 8 diesel trucks. The energy management technologies considered here have been specifically targeted by the 21st Century Truck Partnership (21 CTP) between the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. industry and include advanced combustion engines, waste heat recovery, and reductions in auxiliary loads, rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag, and gross vehicle weight. We estimate that combined use of all these technologies in hybrid trucks has the potential to improve fuel economy by more than 60% compared to current conventional trucks, but this requires careful system integration to avoid non-optimal interactions. Major factors to be considered in system integration are discussed.