Presenting the results of the CORE (CO2 reduction for long-distance transport) project, at the 25th Aachen Colloquium on Automobile and Engine Technology (10—12 October 2016), Dr Simon Edwards said that 11—18% CO2 reductions had been achieved, compared to current Euro 6 vehicles.
CORE is the four-year, multi-partner research project coordinated by Volvo and with academic and industrial partners including Ricardo, Daimler, CRF and IAV.
Revealing the project’s findings for the first time, Dr Edwards said that the project team has achieved its stated targets in highlighting achievable pathways to CO2 reduction for future commercial vehicles.
The results of the project show that the relative benefits of each of the technologies incorporated on the four powertrain concepts depends upon the vehicle application and its duty cycle.
Engine down-speeding, coupled with boosting system improvements and friction reduction, was seen to be beneficial in all cases.
Similarly, after-treatment technology improvement was consistently beneficial but at a relatively lower rate.
The significance of the benefits of hybridisation and the application of VVA (variable valve actuation) depends on engine type, vehicle and duty cycle, with hybridisation particularly beneficial for medium-duty operation.
“Reducing carbon dioxide emissions [by heavy-duty, long-haul trucks] must be an imperative if national and European level emissions targets are to be met,” stated Dr Edwards.
“The CORE project team set some very ambitious goals but … this four-year research project has delivered in defining practical, fuel-efficiency driven paths towards CO2 reduction for future commercial vehicles.”