Sparking an Alternative to the Diesel Engine

Only few things would appear to be as inseparable as commercial vehicles and diesel engines. This could soon change because the interest in gasoline engines for commercial vehicles and mobile work machines is growing. Further drastic reductions in emission ceilings across the world are further pushing up the costs for exhaust gas aftertreatment. In addition, very stringent consumption targets need to be met. Depending on application country and/or purpose, the gasoline engine can make a key contribution in future. At IAV, experts in commercial vehicles and in gasoline engine drive systems are working closely together in an effort to combine the best of both worlds.

Gasoline engines can provide the answer for commercial vehicles of all sizes. Small work machines, such as fork lift trucks or small excavators, are one example that springs to mind. Exhaust gas aftertreatment for the diesel engines used with an output of less than 56 kilowatts will become significantly more complex and expensive in the future”, reports Jörn Seebode, Senior Vice President for Commercial Vehicles at IAV. “A gasoline engine drive system can play out its strengths. For stoichiometric operation, a typical three-way exhaust gas aftertreatment system is perfectly adequate.”

To improve the CO2 footprint, natural gas (CNG/LNG) can also be used. The latest market launches of virtually all European OEMs not least show that it has been possible to significantly improve the former drawbacks of gaseous fuel engines in terms of torque behavior. With heavy commercial vehicles too, it is the emission limits that are driving forward the transition to the gasoline engine. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), in particular, prescribes highly ambitious emission targets, combined nonetheless with strict requirements on fuel consumption. “Nitrogen emissions are to fall by as much as 90 percent over today’s limit values”, says Marc Sens, Senior Vice President for Gasoline Engine Powertrain Advance Development at IAV. “In terms of exhaust gas aftertreatment, this will involve tremendous effort on the part of manufacturers.” It will be possible to meet the future “low nly few things would appear to be as inseparable as commercial vehicles and diesel engines. This could soon change because the interest in gasoline engines for commercial vehicles and mobile work machines is growing. Further drastic reductions in emission ceilings across the world are further pushing up the costs for exhaust gas aftertreatment. In addition, very stringent consumption targets need to be met. Depending on application country and/or purpose, the gasoline engine can make a key contribution in future. At IAV, experts in commercial vehicles and in gasoline engine drive systems are working closely together in an effort to combine the best of both worlds.

COLHD (Commercial Vehicles using Optimized Liquid Biofuels and HVO Drivetrains) is a research and innovation project on the use of liquid biofuels in commercial vehicles funded in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project. The overall objective of the COLHD project is to develop and optimize liquid biofuel blends, powertrain concepts and fuel storage systems, reducing the use of fossil fuels. The engines will be designed to run on optimized blends of both fossil fuels, mainly Autogas (LPG) and LNG (liquid natural gas), and nonfossil renewable biofuels, with the objective of developing market evolution scenarios in order to progressively increase the share of biofuels.

Over 96% of current road freight transport relies on fossil diesel, accounting for a major share of the total carbon emissions in Europe. Despite the solutions in part available for powertrain concepts running on alternative fuels, there is a lack of infrastructure in Europe. Here too, the COLHD project is developing scenarios to make alternative fuels available along the major European transport axes.

The COLHD consortium consists of four knowledge partners, three SMEs and nine industry partners working on a well informed and pragmatic approach to bringing alternative biofuel solutions to road freight transport in Europe.