Intelligent charge compression ignition combustion for range extender medium duty applications

Abstract

Electrified powertrains have been growth in the last few years due to the increase in powertrain efficiency. However, for heavy-duty vehicles the right choice it is not clear. The long-routes and large number of daily kilometres makes that current battery technology it is not prepared to cover the minimum requirements. A mid-term solution is hybrid powertrains. The mix between pure electric range and range extender mode in liquid fuels make perfect to complete a large distance. However, tailpipe pollutant and CO2 emissions are still a disadvantage against pure electric powertrain. This study analyses the potential of hybrid powertrains running in an advanced combustion mode as Intelligent Charge Compression Ignition. Due to the flexibility of the combustion mode different renewable energy fuels are tested: Butanol, Methanol and Biodiesel. The work is focused in urban buses due to the potential of electrified powertrains in this context and the large number of vehicles concentrated in cities. The results show that pure electric bus reduce 54% the CO2 emissions at LCA level. Meanwhile the Intelligent Charge Compression Ignition allows to 32% with one renewable fuel (Diesel-Butanol) and 66% with two renewable fuels (Biodiesel-Methanol) with respect to the non-hybrid diesel reference.