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MIT Says We're Overlooking a Near-Term Solution To Diesel Trucking Emissions (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Trucking in the US is still driven by diesel-fueled, compression-ignition (CI), internal combustion engines. Daniel Cohn and Leslie Bromberg, a pair of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published a paper with the Society of Automotive Engineers, suggesting that the best way forward is not to wait for all-electric or hydrogen-powered semis, but to build a plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) truck with an internal combustion engine/generator that can burn either gasoline or renewable ethanol or methanol. Such a setup preserves the range and affordability that's expected of diesel long-haul trucks while significantly reducing the emissions associated with diesel. To boot, it's a near-term solution; no waiting for battery weight to fall or hydrogen refueling stations to be installed.
A hybrid heavy-duty system isn't a completely novel idea, though a PHEV system has yet to be widely applied and tested in long-haul heavy-duty trucking. A company called Hyliion introduced a hybrid electric-diesel truck in 2017, and San Diego uses a hybrid electric-compressed natural gas bus on its transit system, though the former still grapples with diesel emissions and the latter is not for long-haul use. But there are some distinct problems with all-electric and all-diesel trucks that a hybrid flex-fuel truck could solve. First, freight companies are looking for the cheapest way to transport goods from point A to point B, so expensive electric vehicles don't make short-term economic sense, especially if you're competing with other freight companies using cheaper diesel engines.
A hybrid heavy-duty system isn't a completely novel idea, though a PHEV system has yet to be widely applied and tested in long-haul heavy-duty trucking. A company called Hyliion introduced a hybrid electric-diesel truck in 2017, and San Diego uses a hybrid electric-compressed natural gas bus on its transit system, though the former still grapples with diesel emissions and the latter is not for long-haul use. But there are some distinct problems with all-electric and all-diesel trucks that a hybrid flex-fuel truck could solve. First, freight companies are looking for the cheapest way to transport goods from point A to point B, so expensive electric vehicles don't make short-term economic sense, especially if you're competing with other freight companies using cheaper diesel engines.
There's another kind of heavy diesel-electric vehicle that's been around for decades: diesel locomotives.
I keep wondering how light passenger cars got the hybrid treatment first and long-haul trucks still haven't, when the first successful experience in the field clearly pointed to the latter being the ideal candidate.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
However you say it in whatever fucked up dialect of English you speak, here in England where real English is spoken we say go on a course. And the only advantage of a hybrid setup is for energy recovery plus to prevent engine labour at low rpm. So go get youself a fucking clue.
Unfortunately, most freight lines in the US aren't electrified. BTW, some locomotives can run both on electric systems and diesel -- i.e. any longer-distance train out of Grand Central in NYC. They run on 750VDC third-rail from Grand Central through upper Manhattan, then start the dlesel when they stop at 125th St/Harlem.
The solution should be massive electrification of freight rail in the US. Regardless of opinions about passenger rail, rail freeight is extremely efficient. Friction from steel wheels on steel rails is much lower than rubber on road, and it can be powered using electricity without lugging fuel, batteries, and/or an engine around.
Better to use a turbine (like the AGT1500 that can burn diesel, gas, jet A, etc) to generate electricity then use electric motors. You get all the torque you want from the electric motors, and great efficiency from the turbine.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!