Simulation-based comparison of powertrain layouts for light commercial vehicle application

The transition towards cleaner solutions in the mobility and transport sector calls for new powertrain configurations. Besides the passenger vehicle segment, this also applies for the transportation of goods in road traffic. The most popular options are the electrification of vehicles and the utilization of renewable fuels. Hybrid powertrain configurations which allow the combination of the two solutions are also discussed. This paper focusses on light commercial vehicles (LCV) which can be used in a variety of transportation applications. Besides the reduction of CO2 emissions, other requirements apply for a powertrain for this type of vehicle. To ensure cost efficient transportation of goods overall weight of the powertrain should not negatively affect the maximum payload of the vehicle. Time-consuming refueling processes should be kept at a minimum to enable a high uptime. Therefore, optimized solutions must always represent a compromise between those constraints. To give an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of different powertrain solutions for different use cases, this paper compares different powertrain layouts for LCVs in both distribution- and long-range-application based on forward simulations. Besides a conventional diesel powertrain, which is used as a baseline, a diesel powertrain fueled by hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), a battery-electric powertrain, an electric powertrain with a diesel range-extender also fueled with HVO as well as a fuel-cell electric vehicle with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are compared. All powertrain layouts are compared in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions resulting from powertrain production, fuel production and operation as well as operation costs and their impact on the payload. Additionally, different operating strategies are investigated to increase operating efficiency for each individual powertrain solution.