Abstract
In the last four decades the European truck industry has made remarkable progress in energy efficiency, but this higher efficiency has failed to materialize in lower consumption per unit of load and distance (Tkm). One possible explanation is rebound effects due to average traveling speed and power enhancements. An original set of data covering forty years of truck tests of 526 commercial vehicles and 28 different European brands shows that energy efficiency (fuel economy) of heavy-duty trucks improved by 43% and (engine) power by 44%. We propose exergy as a metric to capture both dimensions and estimate that exergy efficiency increased by 73% over the same period, with an estimated speed rebound effect generally positive among the trucks tested on road conditions. Rebound effects caused by increased speed add to other sources of rebound like load, distance and frequency of journeys to potentially undermine gains delivered by higher energy efficiency. Our results provide evidence of the existence in the transport sector of a trade-off between power and efficiency as theoretically described by finite-time thermodynamics.
Highlights
Transport is a key activity of the economic sector and has undergone rapid growth during the past century
Due to its importance and its dependence on fossil fuels, the transport sector is responsible for about 19% of global energy use and 21% of CO2 emissions, and it is expected that energy use and emissions will increase by 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 (IEA, 2015)
The attention of policy regulators on monitoring energy efficiency in the road freight transport sector has been marginal, with the idea that commercial vehicle operators are more conscious of fuel costs than private drivers
Summary
Transport is a key activity of the economic sector and has undergone rapid growth during the past century. The fuel demand of the road freight transport sector is expected to rise in the years. This represents a potential threat to the environmental burden considering that, in the European Union alone, trucks and vans are responsible for about 60% of the GHG emissions related to transport (McKinnon, 2010; De Borger and Mulalic, 2012). The attention of policy regulators on monitoring energy efficiency in the road freight transport sector has been marginal, with the idea that commercial vehicle operators are more conscious of fuel costs than private drivers. On February 19, 2019, representatives of the European Commission, the Trends in Trucks Exergy Efficiency
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