Energy-Efficient Range-Extender Study for Commercial Vehicle Electrification with Renewable Fuels

Light-duty vehicles (LDV) are scaling up electrification technologies from battery to dedicated hybrid engines (DHEs). The success from electrification of LDVs can be a starting point to look into a similar trending development of commercial vehicles (CV), which are bigger and heavier with more demanding work cycles. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDV)—Phase 3” establishes new CO₂ emission standards for MY 2032 (Model Year) and later HD vehicles with more stringent CO₂ standards phasing in as early as MY 2027 for certain vehicle categories. In this article, the focus is about improving the operational efficiency of MDHD (medium-duty and heavy-duty) vehicles through a selected electrification technology in this study rather than pure BET (battery electric truck). Extended-range electric vehicle (EREVs) systems are studied here to address sustainability regarding charging infrastructure and by using the renewable fuels (hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and ethanol). Range-extender systems with using renewable fuels are investigated to electrify CV for cost-effectiveness and carbon reduction as well as tailpipe emissions in the USA. The numeric analysis expanded from the experimental BET study shows the promising potential of EREVs for electrifying HDVs through applying renewable fuels.