The port-logistic industry has a significant impact on the urban environment
nearby ports and on the surrounding coastal areas. This is due to the use of
large auxiliary power systems on ships operating during port stays, as well as
to the employment of a number of fossil fuel powered road vehicles required for
port operations. The environmental impact related to the use of these vehicles
is twofold: on one hand, they contribute directly to port emissions by fuel
consumption; on the other hand, they require some of the ship auxiliary systems
to operate intensively, such as the ventilation system, which must operate to
remove the pollutants produced by the vehicle engines inside the ship. The
pathway to achieve decarbonization and mitigation of energy use in ports
involves therefore the adoption of alternative and cleaner technology solutions
for the propulsion systems of such port vehicles.
This paper presents the performance analysis of a hydrogen powered cargo-handling
vehicle for roll-on and roll-off port operations in a real case scenario. The
fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain of the vehicle has been previously designed
by the authors. On the base of real data acquired during an on-field measurement
campaign, and by means of a validated numerical model of the vehicle dynamics,
different mission profiles are defined, in terms of driving and duty cycles, in
order to represent typical port operations. A rule-based energy management
strategy is then used to estimate the energy and hydrogen consumptions required
by the vehicle and to assess its suitability to accomplish the defined target
port operations. Outputs from this study show the potential of the proposed
solution to take the place, in a foreseeable future, of conventional
Diesel-engine vehicles, today commonly used in port logistics, towards a
zero-emission scenario.