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Most heavy trucks should be fully electric, using a combination of batteries and catenary electrification, but heavy trucks requiring very long unsupported range will need chemical fuels. At the scale of heavy trucks, compressed hydrogen can match the specific energy of diesel, but its energy density is five times lower, limiting range to around 2,000 km. Scaling green hydrogen production and addressing leakage must be priorities. Hydrogen-derived electrofuels—or “e-fuels”—have the potential to scale, and while the economic comparison currently has unknowns, clean air considerations have gained new importance Decarbonized Power Options for Long-haul Commercial Vehicles discusses these energy sources as well as the caveats related to bioenergy usage, and reasons to prefer ethanol or methanol to diesel-type fuels. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

While direct electrification appears to provide the most cost-effective route to decarbonization of commercial vehicles, uptake may be constrained by critical metal supply. Additionally, it will be many years before hydrogen power becomes decarbonized or if it can ever compete economically with direct electrification. An electric road system (ERS) could offer a highly efficient and cost-effective route to direct electrification that would greatly reduce the volume of batteries required, but pilot schemes are urgently needed to provide concrete data on operating costs for different ERS technologies. Furthermore, if plug-in hybrid electric vehicles could obtain most of their power from an ERS, liquid biofuels and “electrofuels” may prove useful for occasional off-grid range extension. To achieve extremely long-range for operation in remote locations, liquid fuels remain the only viable option.

While platooning has the potential to reduce energy consumption of commercial vehicles while improving safety, both advantages are currently difficult to quantify due to insufficient data and the wide range of variables affecting models. Platooning will significantly reduce the use of energy when compared to trucks driven alone, or at a safe distance for a driver without any automated assistance. However, drivers typically drive closer to each other than recommended to achieve drafting efficiencies, which may shift the benefit of automated platooning to safety gains. More data will be needed to conclusively demonstrate these gains. Unsettled Issues in Commercial Vehicle Platooning discusses the technologies needed to enable close platooning, including brake system condition monitoring, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and concrete infrastructure assessment. The report also looks at driver acceptance of platooning technology from a safety and job security perspective.

Currently, inaccuracies in machine tools are often not detected until after they have produced nonconforming parts, causing reworking or scrap. For high-value aerospace parts, a single rejected part is a significant cost. Low-value parts are often inspected less frequently, allowing many nonconforming parts to be produced before the issue is detected, also resulting in high cost. The alternative to relying on part inspection is to run frequent tests on the machine itself, but established calibration and health-check processes take between 20 minutes and several days. Emerging rapid and automated verification (RAV) processes enable machine tools to check their performance automatically in just a few minutes. These RAV processes can be performed frequently throughout the day, allowing machines to operate without human intervention for long periods of time. When an issue is detected, the machine may be able to recalibrate and then continue automatically.