The routes to getting road transport systems working more efficiently are many and varied – and modern consumer technology can help drive change
Pressure to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions – both through increasingly stringent regulations and as part of the global trend towards more sustainable business models – is rising, in parallel with fuel costs. As a result, the entire road transportation landscape is changing, buoyed also by advances in alternative fuels, more efficient propulsion systems, improved logistics planning and an overall retooling of systems.
The way we use road vehicles and how those vehicles operate will change markedly over the next 15 years, or even 10. The United States, where road transport remains dominant, is a prime example. After falling from the mid-1970s to the mid-80s, carbon emissions from light trucks and cars in the US levelled off, as consumers bought larger vehicles and manufacturers failed to advance more efficient engines.
Now, the transportation sector (including not just road vehicles but air, rail and marine) accounts for nearly 30% of all US energy consumption. But per-vehicle emissions are now falling again, as consumers buy smaller cars and manufacturers, such as General Motors, Ford and Toyota, invest heavily in efficiency and alternative fuels and propulsion systems.
Many trucking and logistics firms believe that without drastic changes in their energy demands, the costs of fuel and inefficiency could put them out of business.
Thirsty trucks
In the US, the largest of the long-haul trucks used on roads make up 41% of the heavy and medium-sized truck fleet, but they account for 78% of the fuel consumed by those fleets, according to the US Department of Energy. That’s because these trucks have an average fuel economy of 7.9 to 9.5 miles per gallon (35.8 to 29.7 litres/100km) – and even less when pulling heavy loads. In Europe, heavy-duty trucks account for 75% of all transportation-related carbon emissions, according to a 2012 report by Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Europe.
Much is being done to achieve incremental fuel savings among these workhorse fleets, says Don Anair, senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “For [long haul] drivers who sleep in their truck cabs, there are opportunities in some truck stops to electrify systems, such as air conditioning, so they don’t need to run the engines overnight,” he says. “And smaller diesel engines have auxiliary power units [to power these ancillary systems] which are more efficient to operate than the main truck engine.” In aggregate, these strategies can lead to significant savings, since idling an engine to run these systems can consume a gallon of fuel per hour.
Tweaking existing truck profiles to improve aerodynamics, monitoring tyre pressure and providing “eco-driving” techniques also provide incremental savings, as does the move in the US towards more diesel-powered engines. Improved diesel fuel standards, especially in California, are focused on improving public health and have significantly reduced the levels of nitrous oxide emissions, Anair says.
No more one-fuel solutions
To make the drastic carbon reductions needed, however, new engine technology and alternative fuels are required, Anair says. “If we just pursue one new technology strategy, we don’t know if everyone’s needs are going to be met, especially in the trucking industry. Long-haul trucks travel 120,000 miles each year – battery-electric engines are not going to work for that.”
But alternative fuels show promise. “Some manufacturers say that they going to bring hydrogen vehicles to market in the 2015 timeframe. It’s important to continue to invest in this and other technologies, such as fuel cells,” Anair says.
But where will the investments come from? To a large degree, manufacturers are relying on government incentives and tax breaks to stoke innovation. This has come through major initiatives by the US Department of Energy and across the European Union. Ultimately, however, the will to invest and modify road fleets comes from the companies that operate the vehicles: fleet operators, logistics companies and major corporate users.
When it comes to electric vehicles, the opportunities to be realised, as well as the hurdles to be cleared, involve a wide range of stakeholders. Take, for example, a multi-year project involving FedEx, General Electric and Columbia University, at a FedEx depot in New York City.
The organisations are coming together to determine how a small fleet of electric Navistar eStar delivery trucks are impacting FedEx’s energy use and business processes, what GE can learn about energy storage and charging stations, and the impact a growing fleet will have on the city’s electricity grid.
One thing that has become immediately clear to large fleet owners: they do not have the luxury of taking a wait-and-see approach. Those that invest early and heavily in alternative technologies and fuels will win the first benefits, through environmental compliance and eventual returns on their investments. Plus, improving road transport efficiencies will go a long way towards responding to consumer demand for more transparency and better carbon footprinting on the products they buy.
Albert Boulanger, senior staff associate at the Columbia University Centre for Computational Learning Systems, says the FedEx pilot is a proving ground for electric vehicle charging systems as well as for testing ways to store power for electric vehicle (EV) fleets without draining the power grid, such as by using old vehicle batteries for storage. But, innovations will continue across the automotive industry.
“I believe this is a time for disruptive technologies to emerge,” Boulanger says. “What if you could pull up somewhere and put a nozzle on [an EV] and fill up the battery with a charged electrolyte? That’s not a viable model today, but there are some promising battery technologies that are not out the door yet.”
Driving data
Today, even in urban areas in North America and Europe, the number of EV charging points is infinitesimal compared with the availability of conventional fuel. The impact of the global recession has meant that sales of the few available EV models have been slow worldwide. But with the march of lower emissions regulations and advancements in electric propulsion systems, automakers have invested so deeply in EV technology that it seems likely it will continue to expand its reach.
When it does, it will be a game-changer not only for transportation systems but also for utility providers. They need to ensure the drain of hundreds and thousands of cars plugging in at the same time does not overwhelm the grid. “We want to play a role in that,” says Allan Schurr, IBM’s vice-president for strategy, global energy and utilities.
IBM is part of many EV pilots and initiatives around the world, in which it is providing software and services that act as messengers between drivers, providers of EV charging services and utilities. A partnership with Honda, for example, will provide drivers of the upcoming EV Fit with optimised battery charge schedules, communicated through the car’s telematics systems, which will balance both the needs of the driver with the real-time power supply of the local grid.
“IBM has been working to mow down the technological impediments [to scaling EVs]”, says Schurr. One of the company’s goals is to enable “ubiquitous charging, where consumers can have a really seamless experience” when it comes to powering their cars.
IBM is also working with carmakers, utilities and municipalities as part of the Green eMotion initiative, which is running EV demonstration projects all over Europe.
Getting round town
A 2007 study found that, on average, 30% of the traffic that clogs busy urban areas comprises drivers looking for parking spaces. Thankfully, parking and technology are coming together, with the help of sensors embedded in city streets. Service providers are using these sensors to wirelessly collect real-time data on the location of open spots, which is then made available to drivers through smartphone applications.
The best way to reduce traffic, of course, is to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. And when sensors are embedded into an urban architecture and networked into a comprehensive mapping platform such as Google Maps, many other possibilities open up that can reduce congestion, says Jeffrey Tumlin, a principal with urban planning consultancy Nelson Nygaard and author of Sustainable Transportation Planning. Car-sharing schemes that use location data to connect car-sharing club members with available cars, based on where each is located in real time, makes the system more attractive to drivers, who are then more likely to get rid of their personal vehicles.
In fact, smartphones are emerging as great tools for improving urban transportation systems, says Tumlin. Google Maps uses phone location data to generate congestion maps in real time. Plus, the platform aggregates real-time scheduling data from various transit agencies in cities. “It provides consumers all the nearby public transit options, along with timetables and cost. Until recently, folks had to look in many places for this information, because transit agencies had never been able to get this data out [to commuters] efficiently.”
Tumlin adds, however, that there’s one thing that can reduce urban congestion and improve public health, without the use of any technology whatsoever: walking.