Reducing Petroleum Consumption of Trucks

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Reducing Petroleum Consumption of Trucks
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Outline of Presentation

• Background oil and transportation
• Stats showing trends in the trucking industry
• Sampling of methods for both improving fuel
  efficiency and reducing consumption of petroleum
  in heavy duty trucks

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Methods of Reducing Petroleum Consumption by
Trucks

• Conventional methods
• Technologies
• Hybrid technologies
• Alternative fuels

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Issues Limiting Fuel Efficiency Improvements for
HD Trucks

• No Fuel Efficiency standards for heavy duty
  trucks
• Government regulation is more focused on lowering
  emissions
• Relatively low price of diesel fuel
• Low fuel tax on Diesel fuel 24.4
• Cheaper to produce than gasoline

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Oil and Transportation Today

• Highway transportation alone uses over 1/2 of the
  nations oil demand
• Transportation consumes about 2/3 of the nations
  oil demand
• US transportation sector is 97 dependent on
  petroleum fuels
• Transportation uses all domestic oil production
  plus 40 of imports
• Number of vehicles on our roads and miles driven
  continue to steadily increase

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History of Motor Vehicle Fuel Use
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Projected Fuel Use of Motor Vehicles
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Why We Need More Energy Efficient Heavy Vehicles

• Essentially all of the increase in highway
  transportation fuel use since 1973 has been due
  to trucks
• 1996 highway energy use by trucks exceeded that
  of automobiles for the first time in US history
• Our nation's economic health depends on HD
  vehicles, which transport the bulk of our
  country's goods

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Gross Domestic Product and Trucks

• The Nations economy is linked to efficient heavy
  vehicle transportation

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H-D Trucks Population v. Consumption
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Fuel Use by Truck Class

• Fuel use of Class 8 trucks, at 18 billion gallons
  per year, far exceeds that of commercial trucks
  in any other weight class

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Fuel Use by Truck Class and Trip Length

• Class 8 Long haul trucks use about 13 billion
  gallons of fuel/yr
• Class 8 short haul trucks less than 1/2 that
  amount at 5 billion gallons of fuel/yr

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Reasons Diesel is the Preferred Fuel for HD Trucks

• Diesel fuel has a higher energy density than
  gasoline
• 1 gallon of diesel fuel contains approximately
  147,000 BTU of energy
• 1 gallon of gasoline contains appproximately125,00
  0 BTU of energy
• Diesel fuel evaporates much more slowly than
  gasoline
• its boiling point is actually higher than the
  boiling point of water
• Diesel requires less refining than gasoline

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Diesel Engines are More Powerful

• Higher compression ratio with Diesel engines
• The higher the compression ratio, the more power
  is generated by the engine
• Gasoline engine compresses at a ratio of 81 to
  121
• Diesel engine compresses at a ratio of 141 to as
  high as 251

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Diesel Engines Need to Be Hot

• Diesel engine has no spark plug to produce heat
• Direct Injection Process
• It intakes air and compresses it, and then it
  injects the fuel directly into the combustion
  chamber
• The heat of the compressed air is what actually
  lights the fuel in a diesel engine
• When a diesel engine is cold, the compression
  process may not raise the air to a high enough
  temperature to ignite the fuel
• Big reason for idling

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Conventional Methods
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Policy for Conventional measures

• With a 25 shortage of imported oil, prices are
  sure to rise and fleet operators as well as
  independent drivers will look to basic methods of
  improving efficiency first, because they
  represent the cheapest and quickest alternatives

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Proper Vehicle Maintenance

• Although diesel engines dont require tune-ups,
  it is important to replace fuel filters at the
  proper intervals
• Keeping all axles both drive and steer, properly
  aligned to minimize rolling resistance

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Proper Vehicle Maintenance

• Monitoring fuel quality at the pump
• dirty fuel causes the fuel injectors to clog or
  disrupt the spray pattern negatively affecting
  fuel efficiency
• Repairing any body damage
• For example, that front corner of the dinged-up
  bumper hanging down hurts the vehicle's
  aerodynamics, and thus, fuel economy suffers

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Switch to Synthetic Lubricants

• Replacing popular conventional engine and
  driveline lubricants with synthetic lubricants in
  Class 8 diesel-fueled vehicles has been shown to
  increase fuel mileage up to 8.2
• Saves , because less frequent fluid changes are
  required

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Proper Inflation of Tires

• Over/under inflating tires increase fuel
  consumption
• For every 3 lbs. Below proper pressure, fuel
  efficiency decreases by 1

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Reducing Speed of Trucks

• Trucks burn an additional 0.1 gallons of fuel for
  each mile-an-hour increase in speed over 55 mph
• Slower shifting through the gears
• Slower Starts from stop
• Cost benefit analysis
• is the time you save worth the cost of the extra
  fuel?

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Technologies
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Idling Away Fuel

• According to the Department of Energys largest
  research center, Argonne National Laboratory the
  average truck sits idling for up to 1,800 hours
  each year, which is an equivalent of 75 straight
  days

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Idling Away Fuel

• Trucks typically consume 0.8 gallons of fuel/hr
  during idling
• American trucking association estimates that
  idling for only one hour/day for a year results
  in the equivalent of 64,000 miles of engine wear
  and wastes over 500 gallons of fuel

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Idling Away Fuel

• Dept. Of Energy estimates that, as an industry,
  trucking wastes 900 million gallons of diesel
  fuel each year, just from idling

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Legislation on Idling

• Federal government currently has no policy
  limiting vehicle idling
• Only about a dozen states that have explicit laws
  against excessive idling
• State wide CT, HI, MA, MD, NH, NJ, NV, NY, VA
• However, most states have nuisance laws that
  prohibit excessive idling

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Industry Idling avings

• Many fleets already have rules in place to limit
  driver idling time
• Some fleets have installed equipment that
  automatically turns off the engine when a vehicle
  has been idling for a certain amount of time
• UPS has placed an outright ban on idling

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Federal Government

• U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Heavy
  Vehicle Technologies consistent with its mission
  to reduce petroleum consumption, and dependence
  on foreign oil, has begun a program to inform
  truck operators about the significant advantages
  of reduced idling

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Why Do Truckers Idle?

• To keep the cab/sleeper
• heated or cooled
• To keep the fuel warm in the winter
• To keep the engine warm to avoid cold starting it
  in the winter
• Because all the other drivers do it

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Truck Stop Electrification
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Alternative Devices
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Cost of Alternatives and Fuel Consumption
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APU to Reduce Idling

• Willis Truck APU
• Uses industry-proven Kubota 3-cylinder engine to
  run the APU
• Uses less than a quart/hour of diesel fuel with a
  full load, as compared to 1.0 to 1.2 gallons/hour
  when idling the main engine

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Features

• Eliminates engine idling, thereby reducing fuel
  usage as well as emissions
• Functions as an integrated alternator, heat
  exchanger and air conditioning compressor
• Maintains a comfortable living atmosphere by
  providing heating, air conditioning, and
  electricity to the cab and sleeper

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Features

• Allows for the elimination of electric starter
  and three to four batteries when used in
  conjunction with air start operation

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Features

• Provides a dependable source of power to support
  the running and maintaining of all electrical
  systems
• Including all the running lights for both tractor
  and trailer, and modern communications and
  location systems, while truck is parked
• Monitors and maintains engine temperature
• Monitors battery voltage and recharges when
  necessary

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Products to Reduce Idling

• Superior noise attenuation keeps noise levels
  down
• around truck stops
• along highways, and
• at rest stops
• Reduces the possibility of violating the idling
  and nuisance laws

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The SuperDrive Transmission
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The SuperDrive Transmission

• How it works
• Technology uses a hydraulic transmission system
  to uncouple engine rpm from wheel speed and then
  allows the electronic control module to seek the
  lowest rpm at which sufficient torque is
  available to maintain the desired speed
• Operates at 70 miles per hour at near engine idle
  rpm

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Energy avings

• Heavy-duty trucks consume about 18 billion
  gallons of total fuel annually and SuperDrive is
  expected to improve fuel economy by 20 to 25
• Assuming a 20 improvement in fuel economy and an
  average gas cost of 1.50 per gallon, the
  potential savings could be 7500 per truck
  annually

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Hybrid Technologies
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Regenerative Drive System

• Hybrid powertrains appear to be promising for
  Class 8 urban use trucks where stop-and-go
  driving is prevalent, or in hilly or mountainous
  areas

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How it works

• The RDS captures energy generated by a vehicles
  braking process, then releases the energy back
  into the driveline as power is needed
• Key design features include an innovative inline
  drive shaft, energy storage devices that utilize
  special composite materials, ultra-light-weight
  metals, and advanced hydraulic and electronic
  engineering

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Potential Fuel Savings

• Permo-Drive Technologies hybrid hydraulic drive
  system can reduce fuel consumption for trucks and
  buses by up to
• 40 percent in local stop and go urban driving
  conditions
• 15 percent in hilly or mountainous areas

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Alternative Fuels

• Fuels that use existing diesel engine technology
  or slightly modified
• Fuels types
• Natural gas based fuel
• Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
• Biodiesel

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Liquefied Natural Gas
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Storage of LNG

• Turning natural gas into LNG requires cooling the
  gas to -160 C (-260 F)
• fuel becomes denser more easily transportable
• Storage of LNG
• Fueling stations with equipment to cool the gas
• Trucks must have tanks capable of keeping the LNG
  cool until usage

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Onboard Storage Delivery of LNG

• The fueling system utilizes a double-walled,
  cryogenic tank with an air seal
• The insulated tanks keep the fuel cold without
  requiring additional refrigeration while on board
  the truck
• When the truck engine is operating, LNG is pumped
  from the tank as a liquid and the temperature is
  then increased through the use of a heat
  exchanger supplied with engine coolant, which
  returns the LNG to a gaseous state
• The gas is then delivered to the engine under
  pressure

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Dual-fuel natural gas (DFNG) engines

• These engines can be run on diesel only but
  cannot be run on natural gas only because the
  autoignition characteristics of natural gas are
  poor
• At idle and low load conditions they burn mostly
  diesel fuel
• At full load, a small pilot injection of diesel
  fuel is used to ignite the main charge of natural
  gas over the full cycle, the engines burn up to
  95 natural gas
• Basically the same power and performance of
  normal diesel engines

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How It Works LNG in a high compression diesel
engine

• Use of a high pressure direct-injection fuel
  injector capable of introducing a small amount of
  diesel fuel into the cylinder during compression
  to create ignition, followed by a much larger
  injection of natural gas to generate power on the
  down stroke.

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How It Works LNG in a high compression diesel
engine

• The heat of compression ignites the diesel fuel,
  which in turn ignites the natural gas
• The injection of both LNG and diesel fuel occurs
  relatively late in the combustion cycle, which
  allows for a much higher compression ratio than
  in a typical natural gas engine

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Modification

• Installation of the high-speed injectors to
  deliver the natural gas and diesel through
  separate outlets within the engine cylinder
• Either disable or remove the engine's camshaft
  since the natural gas is under pressure
• The result is a quieter running engine

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Issues in Using LNG

• INFRASTRUCTURE
• For LNG vehicles, technical barriers pertain more
  to vehicle fuel storage and refueling stations
  rather than with the engine
• Insufficient fueling infrastructure and
  unreliable fueling stations
• Better for local fleets that have their own
  supply of LNG
• Currently about 30 facilitiesCost is over 10
  million
• Small scale facility w/ access to pipelineless

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Issues in Using LNG

• LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY
• The weight of the vehicle resulting from the
  extra components required on the engine as well
  as additional fuel tanks can be a barrier
• Any increase in weight reduces load-carrying
  capacity
• If extra fuel tanks are required, the space
  availability on the vehicle for the extra tanks
  can also be a barrier for long haul trucks
• However, the Westport-Cummins fuel delivery
  system seems to have solved the load capacity
  issue for at least local trucks

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UPS Purchased 10 LNG TRUCKS for a 545 Mile Route
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Biodiesel
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What is Biodiesel?

• Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning
  mono-alkyl ester-based oxygenated fuel made from
  soybean oil or other vegetable oils or animal
  fats
• A renewable fuel domestically produced from
  agricultural resources, biodiesel is simple to
  use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially
  free of sulfur and aromatic compounds
• The concept of using vegetable oil-based fuel
  dates back to 1895 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel
  developed the first compression-ignition engine
  specifically to run on vegetable oil

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What is Biodiesel?

• Because it has similar properties, biodiesel can
  be blended in any ratio with petroleum diesel and
  can be used in diesel engines with no major
  modifications
• Biodiesel is registered as a fuel and fuel
  additive with the Environmental Protection Agency
  (EPA) and meets clean diesel standards
  established by the California Air Resources Board
  (CARB)
• Neat (100) biodiesel has been designated as an
  alternative fuel by the Department of Energy
  (DOE) and the US Department of Transportation
  (DOT). Biodiesel contains no sulfur or aromatics
  and already meets the 2007 sulfur standards

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Biodiesel Operates in Conventional Engines

• Biodiesel maintains similar payload capacity and
  range of diesel
• Engine performance can be less than that of
  diesel by 8 to 15, because of the lower energy
  content of the biodiesel (121,000 Btu compared to
  135,000 Btu for No. 2 diesel fuel
• Pure biodiesel is not compatible with natural
  rubber, sometimes found in pre-1994 vehicles
• Because it is a solvent, it can degrade natural
  rubber hoses and gaskets, so those would need to
  be changed to more modern material if B100 is
  used
• Not a problem with B20 blends--20 biodiesel/80
  diesel and below
• Since biodiesel is oxygenated, diesel engines
  have more complete combustion with biodiesel than
  with petroleum

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Safety of Biodiesel

• Biodiesel is safer to use than petroleum diesel
  or E diesel
• The flash point for biodiesel in its pure form is
  more than 260 F versus about 125 F for regular
  No. 2 diesel.
• This makes biodiesel the safest fuel to use,
  handle and store.

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Biodiesel Exhaust

• Biodiesel exhaust is less offensive than diesel
  exhaust
• The use of biodiesel and biodiesel blends results
  in a noticeable, less offensive change in exhaust
  odor
• Equipment operators have compared it to the smell
  of french fries.
• Users also report having no eye irritation.

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About 75 Biodiesel Retail Outlets for B 100 B
20 Fuel

• Bosselman Travel Center -- 1944 North 9th
  Interstate 70, Exit 252 Salina, KS 67401 (785)
  825-6787 public B2 pump

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Hydrogen Fuel Cells?

• Currently development of hydrogen fuel cells is
  only at the prototype stage
• More development for busses in Europe and US
• Some truck makers are working on fuel cells for
  APUs