The economic performance of alternatives to diesel propulsion in trucking is one of the key determining factors in their market development.
Research presented by Dr Hadi Ghaderi at this month’s VTA Alternative Fuel Summit comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) gave a glimpse at different alternative-fuelled vehicles and their impacts on commercial transport fleets.
The results were surprising.
Ghaderi, a Professor at Swinburne University, shared TCO research modelling that considered three types of vehicles – B-doubles, semi-trailers and rigids – as well as three types of fuel technology – diesel, hydrogen and battery electric power, and conducted case studies of these combinations across existing Australian transport routes on the country’s eastern seaboard.
One leg pitted a Euro 6 diesel prime over against a hydrogen fuel cell truck between Brisbane and Mt Isa.
According to Professor Ghaderi, implementing a vehicle simulation tool developed in the USA was a key component of his research.
“We can run a vehicle [in the simulation] from Sydney to Melbourne with a certain build and configuration, and the tool will give us energy consumption results,” he said.
“As a result, we now have average consumption comparisons between battery electric, hydrogen and diesel power for different use cases.”
From this project, Professor Ghaderi presented various findings. While the total cost of ownership of diesel-run vehicles was still lower than alternative fuels for the time being, predicted trends showed that this could change soon.
Out of the alternative fuels in the analysis, Professor Ghaderi reported that battery electric power proved the most cost-efficient under the parameters of the testing.
“Some of our findings show that battery electric trucks demonstrate a considerably lower total cost of ownership in applications where the truck returns to base,” he said.
“Model availability and lower energy are key reasons for this — we are just seeing more electric trucks around.”
One imperative finding for smaller commercial transport fleets aiming to adopt alternative fuels showed that, according to Professor Ghaderi, the general cost of energy was far more important for companies to consider than the purchase price of the vehicle itself.
“This is a narrative we need to change,” Professor Ghaderi said.
“Energy costs, like the cost of infrastructure and utilisation rates, are very important. In a long-term period, these energy costs account for far more of the total cost of ownership than the vehicle’s price.”
Additionally, Professor Ghaderi’s presentation also featured the collaborations between his research team, various state governments and private companies to develop alternative fuel policies, develop end-to-end life cycle assessment of different fuels, and emission modelling.
Professor Ghaderi closed his presentation with the announcement of a new initiative, the Future Freight Cooperation Research Centre.
“We’re looking to build a dedicated freight research and development enterprise which is necessary for an efficient, clean and safe freight sector in Australia,” he said.
“We’re in the engagement stage at the moment, and we’d love to work with everyone to explore new opportunities.”