Technological and Total Cost of Ownership Analysis of Electric Powertrain Concepts for Long-Haul Transport in Comparison to Traditional Powertrain Concepts

Abstract

Light and medium-duty vehicles have been so far the main focus of alternative drive research and development projects. The reasons for this are divided into two components: a global regulatory push to reduce heavy-duty traffic and emissions in urban areas, and how similar light and medium-duty vehicles are to the far more technologically mature personal electric vehicles. It is until very recently that energy storing technology has matured enough to make long-haul heavy-duty electric trucks a viable alternative to conventional trucks. However, the extent to which trucks provide technological and economic advantages over their fossil fuel counterparts is still in question. Therefore, this research work presents a technological and economic comparison of diverse electric powertrain configurations of long-haul heavy-duty trucks to a standard diesel engine truck of the same class. In this paper, a use case is defined to serve as the framework for all comparisons. The input for this use case has four components: the simulated drive cycle, the vehicle, the powertrain technical specifications and the energy source with auxiliary loads. Calculations are then carried out in a model made in this publication for a powertrain that can fulfill the requirements of the use case. Afterward, based on these results, a TCO analysis focused on energy consumption and maintenance, extrapolated through the expected life of the vehicle is presented. Finally, the implications on electric drives production of an increased adoption of such heavy class vehicles are commented.