You are here:
Home 
Applications Commercial Trucking
Applications Commercial Trucking
Applications Commercial Trucking
| Application: Commercial Transportation |
 |
 |
|
Commercial Trucking Commercial trucking APU power needs are increasing as better amenities are being added to sleeper cabins by the truck manufacturers to provide comfortable and sometimes luxurious interiors. Current APU power needs are approximately 2 to 6 kWe and are projected to go higher. Meeting this power demand through truck idling results in a significant cost estimated to be $5,700/truck/year with significant environmental emissions. Argonne National Laboratory estimates that 480,000 class 8 trucks alone generate 120 million pounds of NO, 202 million pounds of CO, and 9.6 million tons of CO2 annually; they also generate about 5.5 million pounds of particulate matter. Current APU technologies to replace truck idling are based on diesel engine power generators, which, though better than truck idling, still possess a range of problems, including low efficiency and high noise and emissions. They also tend to be very bulky and heavy. Another alternate technology for reducing truck idling is truck stop electrification (TSE). TSE currently is not available at very many interstates across the country, however, and is unlikely to become ubiquitous in the near future. Problems posed by truck idling, coupled with higher fuel and other costs and the lack of an alternate technology to significantly alleviate the problems, have created a need for a breakthrough alternate technology. We believe that fuel cell (FC)-based APU technologies are ideally suited for use in truck APUs because of their inherent benefits. One benefit is high fuel efficiency, which results in significantly reduced fuel cost. Maintenance costs also are reduced, because the trucks are not idling at rest stops to create power for the sleeper cabins. In addition, the amount of emissions from FC-based APUs will be significantly lower. The emissions problems caused by truck APUs are significant in non-attainment areas of the country and in rest stops located in highly populated areas. These problems are in addition to the ones typically faced by truck drivers, such as the high concentrations of pollutants that are present at truck stops. FC-based APUs will significantly reduce emissions problems and result in health cost savings to individuals and society. Finally, multiple trucks idling at rest stops create severe noise pollution, which affects all truck drivers and nearby neighborhoods. An FC-based APU will completely eliminate the noise pollution problem.
Per data provided by DOE and the 21st Century Truck Partnership, long-haul trucks idle approximately 2,000 hours/year and requiring a startling 500 million gallons of diesel fuel. Considering the cost of diesel fuel approaching $5.00 per gallon, represents an annual fuel cost of $2.5 billion spent unnecessarily. Furthermore, each hour of idling represents 8-10 miles of on-road driving and $0.15/mile for maintenance, or $3,000 in additional operational expenses per truck. However, the single most critical market driver are new EPA anti-idling regulations (EPA A420-S-03-002) that severely limits commercial truck idling due to environmental pollution concerns. Currently over 25 states have enacted these regulations and furthermore, in the next three (3) years these regulations are expected to expand nationally and also expand to include recreation vehicles and marine auxiliary power applications. Even today, most national parks have banned diesel electric generators within recreation vehicles and there are on-going discussions regarding diesel outboard motors for boats operating in the Grand Canyon due to noise and environmental pollution concerns. As such, spiraling fuel cost combined with environmental emissions, federal regulations, noise pollution, and global warming concerns, are driving the commercial trucking industry to consider alternative power sources for on-board auxiliary loads.
|
